Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Spirit Caller
by Colossal Fighter GX
Summary: "Wield the components that gives life." That's the only trump card uninspiring average joe Jason Hutchins has as he's caught in a battle between good and evil. Based in the DS game by the same title.
1. A title that needs no introductions

**Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi**

* * *

(A/N: Hello, this is one of the few fanfics I wanted out of the way due to writer's block with Reverse of Arcadia and this just popped into my head. You may have seen this kind of story many times on this site but I figured I'd do it anyway. The main character I use here is very familiar so you know the pattern in the deck he'll use, although he uses the same archetype as one of the other characters in the anime. But still I plan to make that deck to use his own way, so don't judge me too much. Try reading this through and tell me what you think. If you'd like to help me with this story, or if you'd like to off any OC characters, please review of PM me...)

* * *

There he was floating around in the dark. It took him a while and he was exhausted but he finally managed to go in. This was where he unwound his mind and muscles for the next day. And every now and then it was where he let his mind run loose, he felt he didn't want to leave. Suddenly a siren exploded from out of nowhere. His world was rumbling and torn asunder until everything went silent.

The siren still went off hurting his ears. His first act was swinging his arm and knocked the machine on the floor. A bright light began stinging his eyes from between the blinds, forcing his eyes shut. But he knew he had to wake up rather soon so he sat up on his bed. After sitting there trying to collect his thoughts he reminded himself that he had somewhere to go.

After stumbling out of bed he went to the restroom to take a quick shower. He got out a few minutes later and walked to the bathroom mirror. He wiped the steam off and was met with a boy of about 15 with his black hair unkempt and falling in front of his blue eyes. Then putting on some clothes he brought with him to the bathroom, he was now wearing a white t-shirt under an open short-sleeve jean jacket, a pair of baggy blue jeans and black, red-rimmed sneakers. Going back to the mirror, he grabbed a comb and some hair gel and fixed his hair. As much as he hates having to use this sticky stuff, he knew it was better to be presentable. With his hair now done, he now sported a large cowlick bang grown over his forehead and around the front of his right side, with a grey highlighted mark in the middle.

* * *

Not wanting to wake his uncle he left the house and went on his way to the bus station. He had a fair amount of trouble trying to get to the station, no matter how close by it was. He had only moved to town yesterday so he had little idea of how to get where he was. After a few wrong turns he managed to reach the station just in time to buy the next ticket and get on the bus that he almost missed. After twenty minutes of riding the bus suddenly stopped, a major traffic of cars blocking the way. He thought of waiting it out, but according to the time it would be very unlikely that the bus will make it to his destination in time. So he decided to get off and started running. It was only a block up the sidewalk and he was lucky enough to enter the pedestrian area where the only traffic he had to worry about was people. He ran past small crowds trying not to bump into anyone...

"Look out!" he didn't have time to look before he bumped into something and fell on his side. He stood up and shook off the pain."Hey, need a hand?" he looked up and saw a hand belonging to a boy his age. He had brown hair dyed in two tones, the top half lighter than the bottom, and chocolate-brown eyes; he wore a dark-grey jacket with a red shirt underneath. He took his hand and let him pull him up. "Sorry about that. You alright."

"...I think so. Yeah." he said in a small tone.

"Hey, you're going to the Duel Academy entrance exams, aren't you?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"You dropped your cards." the boy looked to the ground and found his cards scattered all over the place; he scrambled to pick them up, "Here, let me help!" the brown-haired boy helped him pick up the cards, looking at each one he picked up, "I never seen any of these before. Where'd you get 'em?"

"I got these cards from a flea market back home." the boy said as he took his cards back. "Wait, are you going to the exams too?"

That's right! Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name's Jaden."

"My name's Jason." the two greeted with a handshake. "I'm just wondering, are you sure you're ready for this kind of school? The tuition wasn't so cheap for them to let just anyone in. I just hope I can just pass."

"Well, why not? We got our decks, we got the gear, and we only got- Oh wait a minute..." Jaden checked his watch and then panicked. "2 minutes! I better get going!" he started sprinting off, with Jason following. Their shoes pounded the pavement as they ran past a crowd of gawking people.

As they passed by the park, Jason spotted someone walking in their path. "Uh, Jaden-"

But man could only turned to see and feel a mass of brown hair run into his chest and fall to the ground. The brunette automatically turned to pick up his duel disk and the cards that had fallen out of the deck slot.

"Ugh! Sorry!" Jaden apologized, but his first concern clearly seemed to be for his cards. He quickly gather up his own cards, picking one up and brushed off the dirt, blowing on it gently.

"You kids are duelist, aren't you?" the stranger asked, apparently he hasn't left.

"Yup. We're on our way to try out at the Academy." Jaden answered.

The stranger smiles, and reaches for a small on his hip, popping it open. "You don't say."

"Yeah!" Jaden stood, ready to laugh the whole thing off before he saw the face of the person he just ran into: this individual wore a black shirt and a fashion collar. His hairstyle was black tinged with red, and a few blonde bangs hovered around his face. "Hey... Hey, you're-"

The stranger offered him a single card, "Why don't you take this. Something just tells me that it belongs with you."

"Huh? Wow! For real?" he breathed, taking the gift and looking at it intensely.

"Good luck." The leather-clad man walked past the boys and continued on his way, but suddenly stopped, "Oh, while I'm at it..." he took his cards back and and looked into it, until he picked one out, presenting it to Jason, "You can have this one. It's not really my style but maybe you can make better use of it."

"Uh..." Jason took the card from the man, Thank you.".

"Oh! Hey, wait! Thank you!", Jaden bowed in gratitude and then stuttered, "I… I'll make you proud!"

The stranger stopped walking and replied with a thumbs-up, before strolling away. Jaden watches him go, amazed, then stares with awe at the card in his hand.

"So..." Jason then spoke up, "You know who that guy was?"

Jaden stared at him for a moment before trying to stifle a laugh, "Yeah, that's a good one!" before running off again. Jason stood there confused before he chased after him.

* * *

Back outside at the registration table, now empty, a black-suited school official and two young women wearing white Academy blazers trimmed with yellow were packing up, ready to leave. The official checked his watch, then turned to the ladies and said, "Well, ladies, that's it. Mark all the no-shows, no-shows."

"Wait!" a voice came and they turned to the bushes by the railing; Jaden and Jason himself up, apparently climbed up the cliff to get there. Their clothes were smutched and hair full of leaves, "You can... count Jaden Yuki as present, thank you! Well, just so long as I... don't lose my grip!" the three stared as Jason stumbled over the rails and fell on his back trying to catch his breath.

* * *

In a large dome ontop of a hill, the Duel Academy entrance exams are well underway. On the stadium floor, at least four separate duel arenas have been walled off, in which Academy hopefuls square off against test proctors. In a special set of risers, proctors who weren't dueling were watching the matches or working on paperwork. Among them sat a couple of faculty. One wore pink frills at the cuffs, collar, and shoulders of his blue Academy blazer, and wore his blonde hair in a rather girlishly long ponytail. Thin-faced, sharp-nosed, with dark purple lips and a skeletal neck, he was strange and quite unhealthy-looking. The other was a woman with a dark completion and dark hair. She wore a black leather blazer lined with gold silk, with black fingerless gloves. And what made this woman special was these long horn-like extensions sticking upward. With her piercing green eyes she glared at every aspect of the arenas like a persistent guard dog.

"Once again, all Academy applicants who have already passed their duel entrance exam please proceed to registration," someone announced from the loudspeakers. "For those who have failed, better luck next year."

'And have fun at Duel Monsters community college!' the girly man sneered.

* * *

Down on one of the dueling fields, a match was raging. The proctor summon a purple bug with piercing fangs. It emerged from a giant card and attacked a rather tiny kid opposite. This Academy hopeful wore a grey sort of japanese-style school suit and sneakers. He had a pair of small glasses on his nose, and his hair was turquoise and somewhat unruly. He looked up miserably at the stadium bleachers with wide grey eyes as he recovered from the attack. 'Aw, man. I can barely concentrate with all these Academy kids staring at me, judging me! What I wouldn't give to already be enrolled in the school, like them!'

"Last call for all Academy applicants," the loudspeaker repeated, "If you have not checked in for your exam, please do so now."

Another duel went on another arena. A boy with short and spiky red hair and wore a red biker jacket and blue jeans was facing a horned orange creature with two mouths.

"Alright! Ultimate Baseball Kid, take out his life-points!" a small person in a baseball uniform swatted a ball of fire at the test proctor, taking the rest of his life-points.

"Alright, you win," the proctor said in a boring tone. "Welcome to Duel Academy."

"Yes! Made it!" the boy said pumping his fist.

* * *

In a third arena, a girl with long black hair was facing a proctor with a large child-like dragon on his field.

"I activate the trap card Return from the Different Dimension!" five dragons in different forms suddenly appeared, "Now attack!" the dragon army fired off and destroyed the child-dragon and the proctor's life-points.

"Congratulations, miss!" the proctor praised, "You've officially enrolled to Duel Academy!"

The girl just scoffed, and walked away without saying a word.

The turquoise-haired hopeful rubbed the sweat off his forehead in relief. He passed, albeit just barely. He breathed a nervous sigh of relief, on the sidelines after his match.

Jaden and Jason ran up behind him, the former grabbing the railing separating them from the top row of bleachers. "Haha, wow, look at 'em go!"

* * *

At the forth arena, the trio noticed a duel going on duel between a boy about their wearing a grayish-white school uniform and another dueling proctor. On the field in front of the proctor were two monsters kneeling, wan was a bulky man kneeling behind a giant shield, the other a large robot with spikes. The monster opposing the dueling proctor was a beastly-looking fighter wielding an axe and there was also a face-down card.

"Alright, new guy. Multiple choice!" the proctor said, "Ya got two monsters starin' ya down. Do you, A: throw in the towel; B: beg for mercy; or C: run home to mama!"

"I'll go with D: none of the above!" the applicant said, and a card with a magenta background flipped up.

"A trap?!"

"Exactly. You see, with Ring of Destruction, I can destroy any monster on the field that's in ATK mode; and then we both take damage equal to that monster's ATK points." A Ring of red bombs appeared around his monster's neck and exploded on impact, damaging both their life-points, the proctor's points dropping to zero.

"Clever move," He said. "Welcome to the academy."

The boy bowed to him and said dryly, "Thank you, oh wise proctor."

* * *

Up in the stands, a trio of blue-blazered students had just watched the duel end. The first had smooth, slate-blue hair and little glasses. The second had spiky brown hair sticking straight up. The third had spiky black hair, brown-grey eyes, and exceptionally pale skin.

"Wow, that guy's pretty good, don'tcha think, Chazz?" The boy with blue hair and glasses asked.

"Guess the rumors about him being some kinda whiz-kid were true, huh, Chazz?" The boy on the other side said.

"He's a punk." The person in the middle called Chazz scoffed. "We went to Duel prep school for the past three years. We're ready for the Academy. These kids don't know what they're getting into. But they'll learn; the hard way, the Chazz Princeton way."

* * *

"Wow, that last guy really tore it up!" Jaden commented.

"I wonder who that guy was..." Jason spoke.

"That's Bastion Misawa. They say he got the highest score on the written exam of all us applicants."

"Wow, I just barely passed." Jaden confessed.

"Yeah, me too. My name's Syrus, by the way, nice to meetcha. I kinda have a thing where I get test anxiety; I don't know how I won my match..."

"So you're in!" Jaden gave Syrus a friendly slap on the back, startling him. "Congratulations! I'll be in too, as soon as I win my duel!"

"Wait. You haven't dueled yet?"

"Naw."

"Then you might have a problem. I think this was supposed to be the last one!" What Syrus had said just caused Jason to stand stiff. He had to travel halfway across the world to enroll in this special school and now he just wasted all that money just because he was late.

* * *

In the teachers' seats, the purple-blazered proctors were chatting among themselves.

"Looks like we have a pretty good crop this year." one of them said.

"Yes, indeed.", agreed another.

As Crowler closed a book he was writing on, getting ready to pack up, the black official from the parking lot came over and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but two remaining applicant have arrived to take their exam, Mister Crowler."

"Did you just call me Mister?!"

"Oh, sorry, I'm new here, Missus-"

"I have a Ph.D in dueling, I've earned the title Doctor, thank you! Now, tell the truants that they'll just have to come back next year."

"Oh, come on, Dr. Crowler. We have time for a couple more." protested one of the proctors.

"Yes, let's give these duelist their chance."

"They were just a bit late, that's all-"

"Which is why there's no point to even bother," the proctors turned to see the woman in black speak up, "We've already finished our last examination just now and we have twelve minutes spared only to gather our belongings and leave. Having to test a couple of latecomers would no doubt set us back and-" the tone of a cell phone suddenly rang.

Crowler answered it, with an irritable tone, "Hello, and who may I ask is-"

"It's Sheppard." said the caller.

"Ah, Chancellor Sheppard!"

"Just calling to be sure that everything's running smoothly, Crowler. Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last year..." Crowler was at a loss for words, "...when you cut a third of our student applicants for some ridiculous reason. What was it? Calling you 'Mr.', or 'Mrs.'...? Whatever! Just make sure everyone gets a fair shot!"

"Absolutely!" Crowler replied but before he could hang up she snatched the phone away and answered it.

"Chancellor Sheppard!"

"Yes, can I help you?"

"I feel you'd like to know we've already finished our exams and we only have time to pack up and leave."

"And everyone's been tested?"

"There are two who just arrived, but they won't be taking the-."

"If we still have examinees then they should have their chance."

"...With all due respect, sir, I don't think they should be allowed to test if they should be late for their own exams."

"We've been over this; anyone who managed to register should be able to duel."

"I understand that sir, but-"

"You can test them yourself if you want to, but I expect you to give these would-be students a chance."

"Yes sir..." with that said, she hung up. "We'll have to test the remaining two registers." she said grudgely and walked away.

'Furry-chinned windbag!, Crowler thought. 'Doesn't he realize that there are enough talentless flunkies at this Academy? But he's the boss, and if he wants to give these scrimshankers a duel, fine!'

"But, uh, who's gonna be the boys' dueling proctors, and what exam deck shall we use?" asked one of the proctors.

"Leave that to me!" Crowler left, leaving the proctors dumbfolded.

* * *

Bastion, the student who won the last exam duel, took a seat in the top of the bleachers, "Tight duel, Bastion!" he looked over his shoulder at Jaden, leaning over the divider next to Syrus and Jason.

"Thank you." he answered with aloof modesty.

"From the looks of it, you just might be the second best duelist here!"

"Jaden Yuki, Jason Hutchins, please report to exam field 2," the announcer said.

"Go time!" Jaden said, him and Jason running down the steps, "Wish me luck, guys!"

"Wait for me, I don't know how to get there..." Jason spoke trying to catch up with him.

"Hey, wait, if I'm second best, then who's first?" Bastion asked.

"Ha! Yours truly," he said, pointing to himself. "It's what I'm best at!"

"Wow! He's so sure of himself. I wonder if he's really that good." Syrus sighed sceptically.

"Well, he's going to need to be. Because look who they're dueling." Bastion said and watched as two people walked into the appointed area.

* * *

On the field, Dr. Crowler and the woman in black being prepped and ready to duel. Crowler's disk looked as though it was crafted into his blazer. The part that held his deck slot was strapped to his chest. The tray Crowler used to play his cards looked like a long and giant axe-blade. It was separated from the main device and had to be held by hand.

The other's device was a jackal's head that held her deck in its mouth and was strapped to her left wrist. In her right hand look nothing more that a golden chromed staff with a set of scales at the tip, while there was another gadget strapped to her left hip. They waited until Jaden Yuki entered the arena through a rising floor platform, looking around in the wrong direction.

"Alright, test time!" Crowler said looking at Jaden very confidently. "So, son, your name?"

Jaden stood at attention like a soldier and replied. "Uh…Jaden, Jaden Yuki."

"Well 'Uh-Jaden-Yuki', I'm Doctor Vellian Crowler, Department Chair and Techniques Professor here at Duel Academy."

"Wow," Jaden said, rubbing the back of his neck with a hearty laugh. "A Department chair, I had no idea. From the way you were dressed I thought you were some kind of Academy mascot; like, a... a majorette, or a cheerleader!" Crowler sweatdropped at that comment.

A loud clank brought Crowler and Jaden's attention as the looked towards the woman in black who banged on the floor with her staff. "There were supposed to be two of you here," she said, so where's the other one?"

The door opened up and Jason poked his through, "Excuse me, is this the right place?"

"This is duel arena 4, yes." the woman in black replied. Jason entered and stood beside Jaden.

"Well, then, since everyone's accounted for, let's begin, shall we?" Crowler insisted, pressing a button on the unusual duel-disk he was wearing, "Duel vest on!"

The two teens watched in awe as Crowler operated the machine. The button he pressed causes the deck to spit out five cards for an opening hand, and Crowler smoothly caught them. His posture with the duel-vest conveyed the appearance almost that he was playing a musical instrument with grace and ease.

"Whoa, pretty sweet, teach!" Jaden said, "How do I get one a' those cool blue duel blazers?"

"Oh, a lot of hard work and extremely high marks," Crowler said, 'Of course, you first have to get into Duel Academy, and I intend to make certain that won't be happening!'

"Wait, where is your duel-disk?" the woman in black asked Jason after banging her staff again on the floor.

"Huh? What, me?"

"Yes, you; where is it?"

"Um, well, I don't have it."

"You mean you intended to try out without bringing a duel-disk?"

"No... I don't even own a duel-disk." Jason answered, causing her to scowl.

"Of course..." she muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Crowler replied scornfully, "Unfortunately you can't participate in the field test without a duel-disk, so if you don't mind..."

"I've ordered someone to bring a spare disk to this area. It will take a couple of minutes." she interrupted.

"Um, excuse me?" Crowler asked distrustful, "Are you sure that would ba a good idea to-"

"If an examinee does not own a duel-disk for the exam, a test proctor will appoint one to them for the duration of their test," she recited, "As long as it doesn't break there's no problem with letting a participant borrow a duel-disk." soon the same assistants returned to the field and gave Jason a duel-disk for him to put on. "Now that you're properly equipped, let me introduce myself: my name is Ms. Anais, and my partner is named Dr. Crowler. We will be your opponents for your duel exam," Anais placed her staff in front of her and four extensions folded out from the bottom, letting the staff stand on its end. Then the shaft lowered itself to half its height. She then removed a mechanical pad from her side that was the same gold as the staff. She placed it ontop of the staff where it held the scales. It fanned itself out to fit a set of five cards on top and slots to fit five inside, all held by a large green gem. She fiddled with her gold podium before turning back to the two young duelists, "I've set a timer on my duel-disk to go off in fifteen minutes. If you lose the duel or are unable to defeat your opponents before the timer goes off, you won't pass. Am I clear?"

"Uh, yeah." Jason answered.

"Loud and clear!" Jaden added.

"Good. Then let us duel! Activate virtual simulator!" the gem on her podium lit up.

**Jaden: 4000**

**Crowler: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

**Anais: 4000**

"Allow me to give you a few rules before we begin. We each take turns drawing but we'll each be playing one-on-one. That means Mr. Yuki will duel Dr. Crowler and Mr. Hutchins will be facing me. That means when one duelist is facing their opponent they cannot use their cards to influence any other opposing player. Now on with the duel; and Mr. Yuki will take the first turn."

"Here goes!" Jaden drew his first card, "Sweet! I'm gonna summon, (1) Elemental Hero Avian(3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000) in DEF mode!" the monster in suggestions was a white-winged masked man dressed in all but his buff chest in green feathers. He roosted onto his card with his arms crossed (DEF: 1000), "I'll also throw down a face-down," a face-down reverse-card appeared behind Avian, "All right, get your game on!"

"Yes, very good.", remarked Crowler. He then thought bitterly, 'Don't tell me what to do!' he drew his sixth card, and grinned wickedly at his options, 'After all, since I'm using my own personal deck, rather than one of those test ones, I'll be calling all the shots! I'll fail those two insolent brat and send them home in no time!' "All right, for this first move, I think I'll start nice and easy! I choose to play the spell card Confiscation!"

"Okay…" Jaden replied nervously, "So what's it do?"

"What it does is allow me to pay 1000 life-points for the chance to see your hand and toss one of your cards to the graveyard!", Jaden's cards glowed, and holographic images of them appeared in front of Crowler, "Hmm… Oh, yes, I remember some these when I was just a naïve rookie. Now which of these shall I banish…?", Crowler thought it over before pointing to a card, "Monster Reborn, to the graveyard!", the card he pointed at flipped over to Jaden and 'shattered'. Jaden was forced to put the Monster Reborn on his hand into his duel-disk's Graveyard slot.

**Jaden: 4000**

**Crowler: 3000**

"Next, I lay two cards face-down on the playing field." Crowler sets two cards, "And, last but not least, I play my Heavy Storm spell card! This spell card destroys every other spell and trap card that's out on the field!" there was plenty of wind and not only did it destroy Jaden's face-down Draining Shield, it also destroyed Crowler's two reverse-cards.

"Whoopsie!", Jaden smirked, "Did you forget that you had two Trap Cards out on the field yourself?"

"Now, now, you mustn't speak out of turn, young scholar!", Grey, stormy clouds appeared around Crowler, as through he and Jaden were dueling atop an imminent rainstorm.

"Uhh…What's happening?"

"Nothing's happening," Two golden serpents in masks and headdresses then rose from the fog underneath, "Not yet, but that's about to change!"

* * *

"Uh, could somebody tell me what's going on?" Syrus wondered aloud.

"The two trap cards that Doctor Crowler had on the field were called Statue of the Wicked," Bastion explained, "It's a special trap that creates a Vicious Token (4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000) monster when destroyed. That's why he played Heavy Storm."

* * *

"Ready for your next lesson?" Crowler sneered.

"You bet!" Jaden laughed, "I can't remember the last time learning was this much fun!"

"Hm. Yes, well. I'm quite an excellent teacher, thank you. and now I sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens, and summon (*) Ancient Gear Golem(8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 3000)!" the two worm-like creatures were melded down and up rose a robotic colossus made of gears and iron, towering over Crowler (ATK: 3000).

"Now, now, I hope you're not too scared of my legendary Ancient Gear Golem?" Crowler asked sarcastically.

"Aw, no way!" Jaden beamed, "I've always wanted to take one on!"

"Golem, atta-a-a-ck!" Crowler cackled, "Mechanized Melee!" The gears in Golem's face started to whir; it cranked back one massive first, and punched straight for Avian. Jaden's monster was smashed.

"Aw, Jaden's monster didn't stand a chance!" Syrus groaned, "His DEF points were way too low! This isn't looking good."

"And it's about to look a lot worse," Bastion added, "When that Ancient Gear Golem attacks a monster in DEF mode, the difference between its ATK points and the defending monster's DEF points gets dealt to the opponent as damage."

"But that would mean... Jaden's life-points are going to take a hit!"

And the giant metal fist turned on Jaden, and the hologram punched right through him; his life-points dropped, leaving him momentarily winded.

**Jaden: 1000**

**Crowler: 3000**

Crowler cackled as he watched the boy's shoulders shake, "Don't feel bad, this is the top dueling school in the country! Some people simply aren't..." during his boasting, Crowler has started to notice that Jaden wasn't crying... "cut out... for..."

"Boy, I really wanna come to this school now!" Jaden laughed, "You really know your stuff, teach!"

That took the scowling Crowler by surprise, "Rggh, can't he take a hint?! He will not be allowed to pass this exam! And he certainly won't be permitted to make a mockery of my deck!"

"Just look at 'im tremble!" Jaden thought, "He must really be impressed by me!"

"Doctor Crowler, if you are to just stand around not doing anything..." Anais said with a glare, "I would assume your turn is over?"

"Yes, I end my turn!" Crowler answered, annoyed.

"Very well..." she turned her glare back to Jason, "There are ten minutes on the timer remaining. Make your move, Examinee."

"O-okay..." Jason said and drew his next card. After scanning his hand, he decided to pick one out, "I activate the magic card, A Hero Lives!" a lager version of the card appeared on the field, "When there are no monsters on my field, I can summon an Elemental Hero that's level-4 or below... So the monster I decide on will be (5) Elemental Hero Knospe(3/ATK: 600/DEF: 1000)," the card he summoned was something that looked like a walking plant. It stood on large grass blades and its body was made of big flower buds, one that made up its torso and another its head that also had a face; and two more made up its hands (ATK: 600), "And since it's a special-summon... I can summon another monster from my hand. And I summon (6) Elemental Hero Lady Heat(4/ATK: 1300/DEF: 1000)!" next to the plant monster came a young woman with glowing red hair; she wore a white spandex accented in red plumes of flame, and attache with shoulder-pads and a short orange cape, as well as a red headdress with a small orange gem (ATK: 1300), "Now I end my turn, which activates the effect of Lady Heat. She can inflict 200 points of damage to your life-points for every Elemental Hero on my field. And since I have 2, I can inflict 400 points of damage to your life-points!" Lady Heat lift raised her hand and a ball of fire appeared in each open palm. She then threw then at the opponent and they both made a small explosion on contact. "I'll end my turn now."

**Jason: 2000**

**Anais: 3600**

"You spent three more minutes on the clock. It's now my turn," she drew a card from her gauntlet and added it to her hand before placing a card on her pedestal, "First I set a card face-down. Next I activate the spell card Instant Fusion. By paying 1000 of my life-points, I can summon a fusion monster from my fusion-deck that is level-5 or below." a green dinosaur with a metal laser cannon for an arm appeared.

**Jason: 2000**

**Anais: 2600**

"A fusion monster without a fusion...?" Jason muttered to himself.

"Unfortunately, I cannot attack with the same monster summoned by Instant Fusion. But it can be used for another purpose. But first, I will activate another spell card: Cost Down. By discarding one card from my hand, the levels of all of the monsters in my hand are decreased by two. Now I sacrifice Cyber Saurus(5/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1400) to summon the (*) Mystical Knight of Jackal(7/ATK: 2700/DEF: 1200)!" in place of the dinosaur came a caped, cobalt-armored warrior with a jackal's face. In both hands he held a pair of katar blade (ATK: 2700), "Mystical Knight of Jackal, attack the Elemental Hero Lady Heat!" the jackal warrior rushed in and slashed at Lady Heat, destroying her.

**Jason: 600**

**Anais: 2600**

"And now the effect on my Mystical Knight's effect activates. Whenever he destroys a monster, instead of being sent to the graveyard, that very monster goes back to the top of your deck."

* * *

"That means that other kid'll have to draw that same monster on his next turn!" the boy in glasses solved, " A card like that couldn't be in one a' the test decks. Crowler and Anais must be usin' their own."

"Then this is over," the one with brown hair added, "No applicant could beat the deck of an expert."

"Yeah, it's impossible. Don'tcha think, Chazz?"

"Yeah, whadda you think, Chazz?"

"I think I'm gonna enjoy watching Crowler and Anais mop the floor in Round 2," Chazz sneered, "I only wish they'd treated all of the other second-rate duelists who applied at this Academy the same way!"

* * *

"Three more minutes ran out of the clock," Anais reported, "Jaden Yuki, your turn begins now!"

"Okay! Here Goes!" As Jaden reached for his deck to draw his next card he suddenly stopped, as if something distracted him.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Yuki!" Anais asked impatiently.

"Uh, no! All good!" Jaden drew his next card to be caught in another episode of awe. Soon after, he looked into his hand and smiled, "Okay, I summon (4) Winged Kuriboh(1/ATK: 300/DEF: 200), in DEF mode!" a small ball of brown ith eyes, suspended by a small pair of white wings (DEF: 200), "And I'll place one card face-down! Not bad, huh, teach?"

Crowler cackled, "No, not bad, but you must understand I'm a master technician. A Kuriboh, to me, is rather pedestrian. Even one with wings, you see, its DEF points are still no match for my Ancient Gear Golem. It's a textbook mistake, don't feel bad. Now let's proceed. With the legendary Ancient Gear Golem! Attack that Kuriboh with Mechanized Melee!" After the golem attacked and destroyed Kuriboh, Jaden shielded his eyes from the blast as the remains turned into little sparks in the air.

"Sorry, Winged Kuriboh..." Jaden mourned.

**Jaden: 2000**

**Crowler: 3000**

"Check your gear, your life-points haven't changed." Crowler scoffed.

"My gear's fine. On the turn Winged Kuriboh is destroyed, I take 0 damage." Crowler was thunderstruck that he didn't know that.

* * *

"How 'bout that," Alexis, "a technique the good Doctor didn't know."

"No one can be expected to know every technique, Alexis!" Zane replied, "Especially one as obscure as that."

"Yeah? Well, that kid sure knew it."

* * *

"Fine, fine, I guess your lame little monster saved you there." Crowler said.

Jaden picked up Winged Kuriboh from his duel-disk and put it into the graveyard slot. "Hey, slow down there, teach! You may've beat 'im, but that doesn't give you the right to call 'im lame!"

"Oh yes, I forgot how attached you new duelists get to your monsters," Crowler spat, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah? Well you should be, because by attacking my Winged Kuriboh, you set off a trap card! One a' my favorites, too: Hero Signal!" Jaden's trap flipped open, and shot a beam of light into the ceiling above the field, emblazoning a glowing letter H in the sky above the field, "And that brings out my second (2) Elemental Hero: Burstinatrix(3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 800)!" Jaden pulled this card straight out of the middle of his deck. Crowler winced as an unnatural red fire flashed into existence in one of Jaden's monster card spaces. Amid the flames, a second fire-themed superhero appeared, a lady in a shiny red catsuit, boots, and gloves. The edges of her black hair were white, like burned charcoal, her costume completed with a gold helmet with a small emerald gem (ATK: 1200), "That's it for my turn!"

"Three minutes out," Anais said, "It's your turn now, Jason Hutchins."

"Okay..." Jason drew out his monster card, "And I summon... (7) Elemental Hero, Ice Edge(3/ATK: 800/DEF: 900)!" a small, child-like figure wearing blue spandex under angular white armor appeared. The warior shot a glare from under his horned white helmet (ATK: 800). "Next, I switch elemental Hero Knospe to ATK position!" the small plant-man rose up (ATK: 600).

"There had better be a reason behind putting those two monsters into ATK position," Anais said, unimpressed, "My monster is leagues more powerful than yours."

"Elemental Heroes, attack!" the two heroes bounded from the floor. Ice Edge fired small shards of ice from his hands while Knopse fired small seeds from its open buds. Anais shielded herself from the combined attack.

**Jason: 600**

**Anais: 1200**

Anais looked back up as the two heroes landed, slightly amazed, "Both monsters attacked directly? But how?!"

"By sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, Ice Edge can attack your life-points even when there's a monster on your field," Jason answered, "And then there's another Elemental Hero on my side of the field with Knospe he can do the same thing! And when inflicts damage, his ATK points increases by 100, while his DEF points decreased by the same amount!"

Elemental Hero Knospe: (ATK: 700/DEF: 900)

'I guess there's more to that other kid than meets the eye as well,' Zane thought as he continued to watch the exam, 'But that would be the case if he could protect his life-points from Anais' next attack..."

"I activate the magic card Fusion Sage!" Jason played another spell card, "This allows me to add another magic card called 'Polymerization' from my deck to my hand!" he removed his deck and looked into it until he found the card he was looking for. He added the card into his hand and then sat down onto the floor.

"What are you doing...?" Anais wondered. She watched as Jason divided his deck into two, and held them close to the floor. He then shifted his fingers, letting the cards fall and made sure that not too many cards from one half fell before the cards from the other. After that he pushed the interleaved cards together into a single stack. He did it a couple more times before standing back up and placing the deck back into the duel-disk. Anais frowned slightly grew, "So are you done shuffling your deck?"

"Yes, ma'am. And I activate the spell card Polymerization!" Jason placed yet another spell into his duel-disk, "By sending two or more monsters from my hand or my field to the graveyard, I can summon a fusion-monster from my fusion-deck!"

"I know what fusion does, applicant!" Anais scowled, "Don't bother telling me what anyone who played this game already knows!"

"I send Elemental Hero Ice Edge and Elemental Hero Knospe on my field to the graveyard to summon from my fusion-deck!" an bluish-greed vortex appeared in which the two heroes were absorbed inside. In their place came out a larger warrior with white armor and a cape. He looked like a much larger version of Ice Edge."(8) Elemental Hero Absolute Zero(8/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000) in DEF position! I place 1 card face-down! I end my turn now!"

"All of that flourish and it's only a monster 200 ATK points short," Anais criticized as she drew her next card, "You wasted four minutes but you managed to inflict damage and replace attacking monsters with a defending one. Now on with my turn. I activate the face-down trap card, Non-Agression Area! By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, you will be unable to summon any monsters not already on the field on your next , I activate the equip-spell card Black Pendant! This card increases the ATK points of the monster attached to it by 500!" a necklace with a small black gem hanging from it appeared around Mystical Knight's neck (ATK: 3200), "Mystical Knight of Jackal, attack the Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!" like before, the jackal warrior rushed into enemy likes for an attack. But when he thrust his katars towards his target, his attack was blocked by Absolute Zero with his gauntlets.

"I activate my magic card, Spell Shattering Arrow!" Jason revealed his face-down, "This card destroys all face-up magic cards on your field and you take 500 points of damage for each one destroyed!" the hero pushed them back and quickly summoned a small spear made of ice and threw at at the Mystical Knight. The speak didn't pierce the armor but shattered the amulet (ATK: 2700). "And since it's a quick-play magic card, I can use it like a trap card... Right?"

**Jason: 600**

**Anais: 700**

"That's correct, but Black Pendant has another ability. When it's sent to the graveyard, you take 500 points of damage." Anais said as the remains of the pendant released some dark energy and shocked Jason.

**Jason: 100**

**Anais: 700**

"And as my monster is stronger, yours is still destroyed," Mystical Knight of Jackal slashed away at Absolute Zero. The hero staggared back as his armor recieved a pair of long gashes, glowing with energy from the inside. Absolute Zero then charged in and grabbed the jackal warrior, "What effect is this...?"

"When Elemental Hero Absolute Zero is destroyed, all other monsters on your side of the field are destroyed along with him!" Jason said as Absolute Zero self-destructed, and managed to freeze Mystical Knight of Jackal solid right before the knight shattered.

* * *

"Did you see that?!" the boy with brown hair gasped, "That hero-guy took Anais' rarest monster out along with 'im!"

"I never seen a monster even to something like that before!" the one in glasses added.

Chazz scoffed and looked away with a scowl, "All he did was put up his monster to pasture. It's no different from using a spell card to destroy it."

* * *

"My turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "All right, Winged Kuriboh, this next one's gonna be for you... Here goes nothin'. First off, I'm gonna bring back Avian to my hand with the spell card The Warrior Returning Alive! And now, I'm gonna summon him to the field!" the winged hero returned and joined Burstinatrix beside her (ATK: 1000)

Crowler smirk condescendingly, "Oh, okay, another amateurish mistake. But this is good, this is good. Now, would anyone like to tell me what our little friend did wrong here-"

"Actually, I wasn't done yet. Haven't you learned anything from my Jason's last move? See, I know my two heroes aren't very powerful by themselves. But, if I can form them together it's another story! And I have just the card to unite them!" Jaden showed a card from his hand and Crowler growled silently, "Look familiar? It's Polymerization! Join Avian and Burstinatrix! Fusion Summon!" the same blue vortex appeared and absorbed the two heroes; and and like before, a larger one took their place. This one, a melding of fire and wind, looked more alien. He had one huge feathery wing, and the other shoulder was all red scales and muscle, culminating in a dragon's head for a right arm. He had a long, red reptilian tail and talons for feet, "There he is: the (3) Elemental Hero Flame Wingman(6/ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200)! So. Teach. Whaddaya think?"

"I think you're dueling 'very well', for an amateur," Crowler mocked, "But next time try playing a monster that has more ATK points than what's already out?"

* * *

"What's he mean?" Syrus wondered.

"He means that Wingman's ATK points are no match for his Golem's 3000," Bastion explained, "Shame, too, because when the Wingman destroys a monster, that monster's ATK points are dealt as damage to its owner."

"Wait, you mean they're deducted right out of his life-points?" Syrus asked, "Oh, that would've been a great way for Jaden to turn things around."

"Well, if your friend's as good as he says he is, he might still find a way."

"Wow, did we really seem like friends?"

* * *

"All right, young scholar. I don't mean to rush you, but I am a busy man. Are you done yet?"

"Of course I'm not done yet! And of course, I knew my Wingman had less attack points than your Golem. That's why I have this: Skyscraper!" he threw another spell card into the field-spell slot on the end of his duel disk, "Go!" the ground around Jaden started to shimmer with iridescent light, and tall buildings began to shoot up from the floor of the entire arena like fast-growing trees. Before anyone knew it, Jaden and Crowler were dueling on a cityscape of humongous buildings, lit by the illuminated windows and the full moon above the tallest building. Some of the buildings were taller than Ancient Gear Golem was, standing on the ground, and some aren't. Flame Wingman, in his element, can be seen standing on the tip of the metal spire atop the tallest building, silhouetted by the moon, "All right, Flame Wingman! Go show those heroics- and attack that Ancient Gear Golem!" Flame Wingman faced his foe, below him in the streets of the city, and leap into a glide.

"Fine with me! Bring him on!" Crowler sneered, "This silly little Skyscraper field card hasn't lowered my Golem's ATK level by one point!"

Flame Wingman continued his dive, darting between buildings too quick to be seen. He landed on the ground in front, then kicked off, soaring high into the air above Gear Golem's head, "Y'know what, teach? You're right! This Skyscraper field hasn't lowered your Golem's ATK points; what it's done is raise my Elemental Hero Wingman's, by a grand total of 1000!"

Elemental Hero Flame Wingman: (ATK: 3100)

Crowler became flabbergasted when Flame Wingman became stronger. "Wait! Time out!"

"Go! Skydive Scorcher!" Flame Wingman had hit the top of his upward arc, and his power soared as he flipped and dived straight downward, beginning to flame around the edges like a meteor, heading right for Gear Golem. Crowler freaked, wringing his hair in agony as Flame Wingman collided with Gear Golem. The crowd collectively gasps as there was a huge explosion of golden light, with lots of smoke.

Debris rained down on Crowler. "This can't be! He was my very best card!" a small block of falling concrete beaned him on the head.

Wingman landed nimbly next to Jaden. "And 'cause of my Wingman's super-power, the ATK points of that Golem are dealt straight to your life-points. Sweet, huh?"

Crowler, already carrying a piece of concrete on his head and looking like a idiot, was just stunned, "No way...!" he yelped and frantically looks around, looking for some way to take cover from the tilting golem, but it collapses right on top of him. Crowler can be seen under the pile of scrap metal, mussed and defeated. as life-points completely depleted, Jaden gave him a jaunty two-fingered salute. "That's game!" he winked, "So I guess I passed the test; huh, teach?"

His duel done, Flame Wingman faded and the skyscrapers disappear, and so did the pile of metal, returning to the testing arena with Crowler is lying on the field, completely shell-shocked.

"Impossible..." he groaned, "there's no way this delinquent could defeat me...!"

* * *

Chazz's partners were agape. Chazz himself was even more thunderstruck; his eyes were wide, intense, almost frightened. "It must be dumb luck...!" he muttered, "No way Crowler could lose to some flunky!"

* * *

"That kid's got a future here. Wow!" Alexis praised. She glanced over to see if Zane agreed, just to see him turn and walk away with a grunt.

* * *

"All right! Yeah, Jaden!" Syrus cheered.

Even Bastion was smiling, 'Nice. I could use a little competition.'

* * *

Jaden was jumping up and down on the field and continued to cheer back at the crowd. But they were all interupted as they were forced to cover their ears from a shrilling, screeching noise.

"If you're all quite done?!" Anais snapped after whistling, "Only one applicant passed their exam. There's still one more!" she turned back to Jason, "So if you're ready, applicant, your turn begins now!"

"Okay..." Jason drew his next card, "I activate the Ookazi magic card! With this I can inflict 800 points of damage to my opponent's life-points!" a huge ball of fire shot out of the card and hit Anais.

**Jason: 100**

**Anais: 0**

Anais lowered her arms and looked back up at her opponent with her unchanged expression, "You won the duel, it seems," she said walking towards him, "Nevertheless you dueling is nothing to be impressed about," she stopped right behind the applicant, "Let me ask you something; Fusion Sage, you had that card in your deck from the beginning, didn't you?"

Jason looked back towards her, "Yeah, but how did you..."

"You were unable to draw any new cards the turn after my Mystical Knight of Jackal destroyed your monster. It's only logical. If you had used it in the beginning you may have been able to summon a stronger monster so you wouldn't have to lose so many life-points on the first attack. And just halving you life-points right off the bat, that was just plain ridiculous. All you did was put your life-points at risk," Anais continued to walk away, "What you did was nothing special. But you have the school year to shape up. Welcome to the academy in the meantime..."

As he watched Anais leave the arena he thought about what she just said. He didn't know he would be criticized like that. This game must be some kind of a big deal for her to act like that. He didn't even get to use the card that guy gave him. He thought he did his best but it looked like he had a long way to go if he wanted to go to the academy. Before he knew it Jaden wrapped an arm around him, "That's just great! Now we're all going to the academy!" he let go and pat him on the back, "Hey, those heroes are really something! When we meet back at the academy, let's have a duel first thing! Later..." Jason stood there being the only person in the arena as everyone else left. He guessed that Duel Academy must be as special as they say. He also guessed that he better leave because he gets locked inside.

* * *

**DUEL-MON DATABASE**

**(1) Elemental Hero Avian  
**

**Stats: [Warrior] LV: 3 (ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000)**

**Attribute: WIND  
**

**(2) Elemental Hero Burstinatrix  
**

**Stats: [Warrior] LV: 3 (ATK: 1200/DEF: 800)**

**Attribute: FIRE**

**(3) Elemental Hero Flame Wingman  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Fusion/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 2100/DEF: 1200)**

******Attribute: WIND**

******Effect: "Elemental HERO Avian" + "Elemental HERO Burstinatrix"**

******This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster.**

**(4) Winged Kuriboh  
**

**Stats: [Fairy/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 300/DEF: 200)**

******Attribute: LIGHT  
**

**************Effect: You take no Battle Damage from battles involving this card. After this card on the field is destroyed, any Battle Damage the controller of this card takes this turn becomes 0.**

**(5) Elemental Hero Knospe  
**

**Stats: [Plant/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 600/DEF: 1000)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**Effect: Each time this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent: It gains 100 ATK and loses 100 DEF. While you control another face-up "Elemental HERO" monster, your opponent cannot target this card for an attack, and this card can attack your opponent directly.**

**(6) Elemental Hero Lady Heat  
**

**Stats: [Pyro/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 1300/DEF: 1000)**

**Attribute: FIRE**

******Effect: During each of your End Phases: Inflict 200 damage to your opponent for each face-up "Elemental HERO" monster you control.  
**

**(7) Elemental Hero Ice Edge  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 600/DEF: 800)**

**Attribute: WATER**

**********Effect: When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent by a direct attack: You can target 1 Set card in your opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zone; destroy that target. Once per turn, during your Main Phase 1: You can discard 1 card; this card can attack your opponent directly this turn.  
**

**(8) Elemental Hero Absolute Zero  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Fusion/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 600/DEF: 1000)**

**Attribute: WATER**

**************Effect: 1 "HERO" monster + 1 WATER monster**

**************Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card gains 500 ATK for each face-up WATER monster on the field, except "Elemental HERO Absolute Zero". When this card leaves the field: Destroy all monsters your opponent controls.  
**

**(9) Ancient Gear Golem  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 3000/DEF: 3000)**

******Attribute: EARTH  
**

**************Effect: This card cannot be Special Summoned. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent. If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any set Spell or Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step.  
**

**(10) Mystical Knight of Jackal  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 7 (ATK: 2700/DEF: 1200)**

******Attribute: LIGHT  
**

******************************Effect: When this card destroys 1 monster on your opponent's side of the field and sends it to your opponent's Graveyard as a result of battle, you can then return the card to the top of your opponent's Deck.**

* * *

**DUEL-MON TRIVIA**

**"Hey, Duelists! Did you know..."**

**"Absolute Zero" represents 0 Kelvin. At absolute zero, life cannot exist."**

* * *

**Please Read and Review.**


	2. First Day at the Academy

**Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi**

* * *

The first day of the next week went by very slow but Jason managed to be patient. Now he found himself in a room on a boat on the way to the academy. Even after the exams he still wondered how a card game was such a big deal. He knew it was very popular, but where he came from, it wasn't much of a big deal. He was the only one in his town to carry cards like this and the only others he could duel with were at a flea market where he bought his cards. Problem is he lost those very few games he was lucky enough to play. Now he's on his way to a school where he could be a professional in this card game. He overheard the captain said the trip to the school was a hour away, so he wondered how long it's been. So he got up from the bed and went out for fresh air.

* * *

Once outside on the top deck he went to the bow and leaned against the rail. He could see nothing but water wherever he looked, even the mainland where he came from long disappeared. Although he liked how the sun reflected on the moving waves...

"Hey, you over there!" Jason turned to see the person shouting at him, a boy his age with short and spiky fire-red hair, then who came to the railings also, "I know you! You were at the KaibaDome! I saw you have to go up against Anais!"

"Oh; Ok..." Jason looked back over the water.

"I mean, there's gotta be something to you and that other guy having to go up against faculty!" he continued, "Did you do something to tick them off?"

"What other guy?"

"You know; that other guy who was with you! You were both using the same kind of cards!"

Jason then thought back to when he took the exam. There was indeed someone who used different Elemental Hero cards. But he already forgot what his name was, "Oh. That guy."

"I still couldn't believe you managed to beat Anais' real deck! Trust me, I saw her duel with it before and it's nothing to laugh about!"

Soon they heard the ship's foghorn on speaker, "We will soon be arriving on Duel Academy Island. Please take all personal belongings with you." the captain said.

"Hey! I see the island!" and so had Jason. There was looked like a piece of land fit for a small city. Near the back their was smoke coming out of what looked like a volcano.

Soon the boat was docked and Jason stepped off at a concrete port. "Hey! Wait up!" he spotted the red-haired boy catching up to him with his bags. "Wanna pair up? Principal's giving a welcoming speech in the main building!"

"Do you know where it is?" Jason asked.

"Sure! I've been here before so I know where I'm going! Let's hurry!" Jason followed the kid into the large building in the middle of the island. That main building of the academy looked rather unique in its architecture. The topmost roof was a white, shiny dome, with smaller domes in blue, red, and yellow for lesser roofs. At the back corners of the building were two tall rectangular pillars made of yellow stone, capped with square-based pyramid points. The one on the right tilts to the side, and another from outside the building leaned against it. The front of the building was framed by two more of those pillars, tapering down to a first story of that same brownish-tan stone. Concrete legs flared out from above the front entrance, creating shadows of shade as the two students walked into the building.

* * *

Inside a large classroom, a neatly ordered group of thirty five row/six column students, each wearing a red, yellow, or blue school blazer, stands at attention. Jason and the boy he followed were standing in the back wearing red. A group of faculty were at the front of the room, also part of the assembly. At the head of the class is a video screen, and after a moment a face of a middle-aged bald man with a brown mustache and goatee appeared on it.

"Good morning and welcome, my students!" the man introduced, "I'm Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here; and you are the best and brightest young duelists in the world!" Jason's eyes lit up a bit. He wouldn't consider himself the best of very smart, "Now please, get yourselves settled in at your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable... depending upon how you ranked, of course." Sheppard gave a hearty laugh before the screen turned off.

* * *

"C'mon! It's over that way!" Jason followed the fellow student down the dirt path towards their dormitory. They walked until they reached the edge of the island, where they saw a small building looking over the ocean. It was a yellow building with a bright red roof. From the front, they could see two stories with four doors each, with external stairs and walkways. They soon got up the stairs and stopped at the forth door at the end. The other guy pulled out a key and unlocked the door before opening it and the two peered inside, "Here we are, the old home away from homestead," The room was plain, dark with the curtains closed. There was a long desk with two rolling chairs at it along the right-side wall, and next to it on the near side was a TV. The only window in the room was on the opposite wall, covered with a dark green curtain. Against the left-side wall, there was a triple-decked wooden bunk bed, and a small stool sat near the foot of the bed. Against the wall beside the door was some sort of small kitchen area. "Hey, take the bottom bunk and I'll take the top."

"Yeah," Jason nodded and dropped his bags in a corner before sitting down on the bottom bunk.

"Hey, I gotta use it! So make yourself at home, okay!" he said before leaving out the room. Jason lied down in the bed until he heard someone screaming. He looked towards the opposite wall as that was where it came from.

"Wouldja stop your screamin'!" a voice came through the wall, "Who are you and what're you doin' in my room?!"

"Oh, sorry, my name's Jaden Yuki."

"And I'm Syrus."

"We're your new...roommates." Jason recognized those two latter voices from when he came for his exam. He decided to listed in and leaned his head against the wall.

"Yeah, you're new all right, so let me tell you how things work here." the grumpy voice said.

"Uh, what things?" Jaden asked.

"Like when Parents' Weekend's gonna be?" Syrus guessed.

"Duh, like how the whole color thing works? That's more important than anything," the voice corrected, "Ya got three different kinds a' students here: Obelisk Blue students, Ra Yellow students, and Slifer Red students. Now, the Blues're the highest-ranked students; some kids're blue 'cause a' grades, others through connections. The Yellows're second-highest, mostly younger students with lots a' potential..."

Jason became startled when he was interrupted by a loud ringing sound. He looked over and found is newly-acquired PDA ringing. Picking it up, he found a message on it and opened it...

* * *

The moment he read it he had to go back into the main building. He had to ask a few teachers until finally he found the door he was looking for. He was a few steps away from the door when it somehow opened on its own.

"TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN!" someone bellowed before a student in red ran out and past him. He looked back at the student who kept running away screaming, and then back towards the door. He swallowed the lump in his throat before working up the courage to walk inside. It was a slightly large office with regal decoration, it even had a suit of armor.

"Ah, Jason. I've been waiting for you!" Jason turned to the end of the office to find someone else he noticed from the exams, "Come in, come in! Sit down, there's something important I need to tell you..." he sat down in a leather chair in front of the wooden desk in which Crowler was sitting behind. "Now, I assume you're wondering why I called you here. Well, I'll just get straight to the point. You see, I've been overlooking the tuition checks brought in, as well as the list of new student. The thing is, your name's among this list of students, yet I do not see you check."

"I... don't know what you mean..."

Crowler spun his chair so the back was facing towards Jason, "Let me make this more easier for you to understand: I never got your check, yet I find you here. Which means you didn't pay for your tuition."

Jason became confused. He was sure he gave his check at the front of the building before the speech earlier. And he showed it to the teachers on the mainlands before he got on the boat. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. I'm sure I brought in my check. If you could just ask the people in front of the building..."

"I checked with them already; we all looked through them and checked them twice..." Crowler spun back around, "Yet yours was never among them."

"But I'm sure I-"

"Ah, ah!" Crowler cut him off, "The evidence are stacked against you, Mr. Hutchins! Now before we finish this conversation, I feel I have to make this clear; this isn't a discriminatory thing."

More question marks littered over Jason's head, "Uh, discriminatory...?"

"Never mind, that's irrelevant anyway. Tell me, do you know why certain students are made to wear certain colors in this establishment?"

Jason then remembered back to what Jaden and Syrus' roommate told them, "I heard that blue students are here because they're rich, and yellows are here because they're smart..."

"My, I've had many students give me such short, plain answers, but yours seem to be the best, or just the most plain I've ever heard," Crowler stood up and went around the table, "And do you know which color those people are? Red. And do you know what kind of students they are?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling you're about to tell me-"

Jason was interrupted by a slam Crowler made on his desk with his hand, "Those who enter this academy as Slifer Red are the lowest-ranked among all students!" he shouted, "The reason they entered this academy was either by unsatisfactory grades, or some unholy miracle! Remember, I was there when you took you duel exam! And trust me when I say your dueling is sorely lacking, as poorly as you did in your written exam!" Jason shrank into his seat, the teacher's shouting starting to scare him some more. Luckily, Crowler seemed to calmed down and straightened his suit.

"I... I'm a but confused here. You said that this isn't a dis... discrim..."

"And this isn't a discriminatory thing, kind sir," Crowler said, "It's a deadbeat thing."

"Uh, what?"

"Tell me, what was that card you used to defeat Anais?"

"I think it was Ookazi, sir."

"Do you mind if I can see this card for a second?"

"Okay..." Jason pulled his cards from out of his pants pocket and pulled out the magic card to give it to Crowler. The teacher examined it closely, some sort of smile spread across his face. Them he did something Jason didn't expect... Crowler threw the card onto the floor and began stomping on it!

"DEADBEAT! DEADBEAT! DEADBEAT! DEADBEAT! DEADBEAT!" Crowler shouted. Then he stepped back with his calm expression, with the card left on the floor. Jason slowly reached out to grab it... "DEADBEAT!" Crowler stomped on it one more time. Jason felt as crushed as the crumpled card that was left on the floor. The teacher picked up the card and presented it to Jason, which the student regretfully taken back, "Now, if you don't pay your tuition by the end of the day, you'll have five seconds to convince the chancellor to let you stay here; then I'll have great pleasure of kicking you out of this academy," Crowler sneered with a sweet, "This is a place for the next generation of duelist, not brain-dead dropouts. Stand up, please," Jason slowly stood up from his seat, his eyes not leaving the crazy teacher, "I'll be waiting, Mr. Hutchins," Jason felt his world crumbling, distorting as he felt himself somehow distancing away from Crowler, "And remember: TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN!" that was Crowler's final words before giving Jason a 'peace' gesture, "Peace."

SLAM!

* * *

Many thoughts ran through Jason's head when he ran back into his room. He thought about what Crowler said and his tuition check suddenly went missing when he knew he turned it in. He emptied out his bags bus couldn't find it. He could think of nothing else then but sit on the bottom bunk, unable to think what he was supposed to do. How was she supposed to tell his parents he lost the money on his first day of high school? Only one thing came to mind; and he didn't like that idea any more than dropping out. His PDA rang in his pocket, which told him his hour was up. Sighing in defeat, he went out the door and on his way to his uncertain fate. He's been through so much in such a short time, yet he didn't feel bad about the decision he made for the faculty.

Afterwards Jason returned to his room. He just opened the door when... "Hey, Jason!" Jason cried out when someone shouted behind him. He looked back to see his next-door neighbor standing behind the open door, with a smile on his face and duel-disk on his arm.

"Jaden...? Uh, why are you here?"

The chestnut-haired slifer's smile dropped for a moment, "Hey, don't you remember back at the exam? I said you'd be my first opponent when we came here! Don't tell me you forgot!"

"Your opponent...?" Jason thought over what happened back at the Kaibadome, the last thing Jaden said to him... "I did remember you saying that... You're saying you want to duel now?!"

"What'd you thing I got my deck ready for!" Jaden answered, "C'mon! You ready or not?"

Jason doesn't feel like a game right now from what he went through this afternoon and what he need to tell his roommate. But then again he figured a duel would calm his nerves before the fact. "Alright, where should we do it?"

"Outside, in front of the dorm, right now!" Jaden suggested.

A few moments later both Jaden and Jason were in front of the Slifer Red Dorm, both with their duel-disks ready. Syrus and Jason's roommate were standing on the top deck watching.

"Get ready, Jason!" Jaden declared, "And get your game on!"

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

"I take the first move!" Jaden said, drawing his sixth card, "I summon (1) Elemental Hero Clayman(3/ATK: 800/DEF: 2000) in DEF mode!" A large, golem-like warrior appeared in brown rock-based armor, sitting on one knee with its arms crossed (DEF: 2000), "Now I throw down a face-down and call it a turn!" a reverse-card appeared behind Clayman.

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate the magic card A Hero Lives! While I'm the only one without monsters on my field, I can summon an Elemental Hero from my deck! I choose Elemental Hero Ice Edge!" the small, ice-armored warrior appeared (ATK: 800).

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 2000**

"And since it's a special-summon, I can summon Elemental Hero Knospe from my hand!" the plant-man joined the ice warrior on the field, "Next I activate Ice Edge's special-ability: by sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I can have Ice Edge attack directly!" both heroes attacked Jaden with a combination of ice shards and flower seeds.

**Jaden: 2400**

**Jason: 2000**

"And when they inflict damage, both of their effects activate: for Ice Edge, he can destroy 1 face-down spell/trap card on your side of the field!" Ice Edge created a spear of ice and pierced Jaden's reverse-card, which was Hero Signal, "And Knospe's ATK is raised by 100 while his DEF points are lowered by 100 (ATK: 700/DEF: 900), "Now I place a card face-down. I end my turn."

"Okay, my turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Hero Avian to the field in ATK mode!" the green-feathered, winged superhero appeared (ATK: 1000), "Next, I activate the spell card known as Feather Shot! So for the rest of this turn, Avian can attack every monster on the field! Avian, take to the skies!" Avian raised himself higher into the air and stretched his wings, where he fired a series of razor-sharp feathers that cut into the two smaller heroes and destroyed them, Knospe after Ice Edge.

**Jaden: 2400**

**Jason: 1500**

"Now I set 1 card face-down! That's it for my turn!"

a reverse-card appeared, "Hey, you gotta do better than than if you want to beat me!"

"Okay, I'll do that..." Jason drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Hero Lady Heat in ATK position!" the fiery female hero appeared (ATK: 1300), "Attack Elemental Hero Avian!" Lady Heat fired a large ball of fire and destroyed Avian.

**Jaden: 2100**

**Jason: 1500**

"Now I end my turn, which activates Lady Heat's ability and inflict 200 points of damage!" Lady Heat hits Jaden with a smaller fireball.

**Jaden: 1800**

**Jason: 1500**

"I guess that's a good comeback..." Jaden said, drawing his next card, "But not as good as (2) Elemental Hero Sparkman(4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400)!" Jaden's next hero was a man in blue spandex lined with yellow, suited in pieces of lightning-yellow armor and a pair of arched blue metal wings on his back. The shaded blue visor mask over his face covered his identity (ATK: 1600), "His Shining Surge Flash will give Lady Heat something to be really shocked about! Go!" Sparkman shot several volts of lightning that destroyed Lady Heat.

**Jaden: 1800**

**Jason: 1200**

"That ends my turn!" Jaden concluded.

"Then it's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I summon (4) Elemental Hero Heat(4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1200) in ATK position!" that new male hero looked similar to Lady Heat, with gold-and-red gauntlets and a mask covered over his face (ATK: 1600), "And his effect increases his ATK points for each Elemental Hero on my side of the field, and I have 1. So Elemental Hero Heat now has 1800 ATK points! Now attack Sparkman!" Heat's fists ignited and charged at Sparkman.

"Sorry, but I activate my face-down, Hero Barrier!" Jaden's reverse-card opened, creating a barrier deflecting Heat's punches, "This trap protects Sparkman from an enemy's attack! Better luck next time!"

"Then I'll end my turn."

"It's my turn now!" Jaden drew his next card, "I equip Sparkman with the Spark Blaster spell card!" a large high-tech blaster attached itself to Sparkman's right arm, "This little gizmo give Sparkman the ability to switch a monster's battle-position! Show 'im what I mean, Sparkman!" Sparkman fired a blast of electricity on Heat, who was forced to DEF position, "Now attack Elemental Heat with Shining Surge Flash!" Heat was destroyed by Sparkman's signature attack. "And the neat thing about Spark Blaster is that it has a total of 3 charges! So whatever monster to summon next, I can have Sparkman switch it to ATK more or DEF mode! Let's see what you can do about that!"

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I set a monster in DEF mode and end my turn." a face-down card appeared on Jason's monster-card zone.

"I guess that's one way to luck out..." Jaden drew his next card, "After all, Spark Blaster only affects face-up monsters. So let's see what monster you're hiding under that face-down card!" Sparkman attacked Jason's set monster, which was revealed as a green-skinned hero with a wooden right arm and leg (DEF: 2000), "Hey, that's (5)Elemental Hero Woodsman(4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 2000)! I know someone who has one of those! Too bad I also know it's superpower! So I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix!" Jaden's fiery heroine appeared (ATK: 1200), "And I'll use the power of the Burst Return to return all other heroes to our hands!" Woodsman was forced back into Jason's hand while Sparkman and Clayman returned to Jaden's "Now I'll throw down a face-down! You're up!"

"Then it's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "

I summon (*) Elemetal Hero Ocean(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200)!" an armored merman-like warrior appeared, who had a large, long fin erected on his head, and wielded a crescent-bladed lance (ATK: 1500), "Now I'll attack with Ocean!" Ocean truck Burstinatrix down with his lance.

**Jaden: 1500**

**Jason: 1200**

"That ends my turn."

"A water-based warrior monster, huh?" Jaden drew his next card, "Two can play at that game! I summon (3) Elemental Hero Bubbleman(3/ATK: 800/DEF: 1200)!" a blue-suited masked warrior with light-blue armor appeared, fire-hose nozzles mounted on his wrists (ATK: 800), "And the best part about him is when he's the only one out on the field, I get to draw 2 new cards!" Jaden drew another two cards, "Now this I can work with! I equip Bubbleman with Bubble Blaster, giving him double the ATK points!" Bubbleman was now holding a large bazooka-like weapon with a water dispenser on top (ATK: 1600), "Now attack Ocean with Bubble Barrage!" Ocean was destroyed by a flurry of bubbles from Bubbleman's blaster.

**Jaden: 1500**

**Jason: 1100**

"That end my turn!"

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Hero Woodsman in DEF position and end my turn." the Woodsman return to the field.

"It's my turn now!" Jaden drew his next card,  
"I'll play a little defense of my own with Clayman!" the stone golem reappeared (DEF: 2000), "And with that, I end my turn!"

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate the magic card Monster Reborn. This lets me summon a monster from the graveyard. I summon Elemental Hero Ice Edge," the small ice warrior appeared (ATK: 800), "Now I activate Polymerization! By fusing together Elemental Hero Ice Edge and Woodsman, I can summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero from my fusion-deck!" the two heroes combined to form the larger ice warrior (ATK: 2500), "And because of his effect, he gets 500 ATK points for every Water-Attribute monster on the field (ATK: 3000), "Now attack Bubbleman!" Absolute Zero charged in and jabbed Bubbleman, but the other water monster used its blaster to shield himself from the attack.

"Sorry, but when Bubbleman's battles a stronger monster, not only can he use Bubble Blaster to take the hit, it also cancels all battle-damage!"

"Then I'll end my turn."

"It's my turn!" Jaden draws his next card, "

Absolute Zero attacks Bubbleman!"

"I activate the quick-play spell card Bubble Shuffle! This switches Bubbleman and a monster you have in ATK mode to DEF mode! Then, by sacrificing Bubbleman, I can summon another Elemental Hero from my hand, like Sparkman!" Bubbleman was then replaced on the field by Sparkman (DEF: 1400).

"Then I end my turn."

"It's my turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "There's nothing to do here so I'll end this turn for now."

"Then it's my turn," Jason dre his next card, "I switch Absolute Zero into ATK position and attack Elemental Hero Clayman."

"Then I'll activate my trap card, Clay Charge!" Jaden's Clayman then rose up to face the charging monster, "If Clayman's gonna be destroyed then he's not giving up without a fight..." both heroes reeled back their fists and then they collided in a deadlock, "because once he's targeted for an attack, then both monsters are destroyed!" they separated from each other and dropped to their knees before being destroyed, "And then we both take 800 points of damage!"

**Jaden: 700**

**Jason: 300**

"If Absolute Zero is destroyed, then all other monsters on your field are destroyed as well," Jaden's Sparkman froze solid then shattered. "I'll end my turn for now."

"Then it's my turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "I activate The Warrior Returning Alive! I'm sure you noticed this spell card! It lets me add a warrior like Elemental Hero Avian from my graveyard to my hand, who I'll then summon to the field in ATK mode!" the winged hero returned to the field (ATK: 1000), "Now attack directly with Featherbreak and end this duel!" Avian flew up and launched a dozen feathers at Jason.

**Jaden: 700**

**Jason: 0**

The holograms disappeared as Jason and Jaden stood there closer into the field. Jaden looked away scratching his head, clearly disappointed, "Okay, well this wasn't what I expected, but that's a good duel, right?" he said before he started beeping. Jaden pulled aside his blazer and took his PDA out of its hip holster. Jason looked with him to see a video message. It was Chazz Princeton from the exams.

_"Hey, Slifer Slacker. Don't think you're off the hook,"_ the message said, _"Tonight, at midnight, it's on. Oh, and why don't we make it interesting. Whoever wins, gets the other guy's best card!"_

"Cool! I guess I'll get to duel at that arena after all." Jaden smiled as he ran back to his room, leaving Jason outside.

Jason went back to his room sitting on his bed. He thought about the duel he just had with Jaden Yuki. He won but he didn't look too happy about it. He only changed his attitude when he got sent this so-called challenge, like he was expecting something from that other black-haired student that Jason himself didn't manage to give him. Was he expecting a bit more excitement from this card game? Once again he wondered why this game was such a big deal as to create a boarding school on an island he's standing on now. He wonders what he's missing. Maybe he could find it in that match going on at midnight.

* * *

He remembered passing a sign to the auditorium last time he was here to see the vice-chancellor. So it took him a while to actually get there and see it again. Someone must be in there because he could see the lights seeping through the double doors. When he opened them, he was standing at the edge of a large, domed stadium, with bleachers all the way around it, centering around a stage in the center. He walked in and looked around. It's clearly made for duels so he's at the right place.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" Jason looked up towards the arena and found three boys in blue blazers standing on it, one of them being the guy who called Jaden out earlier.

"I'm here for a duel!" Jason simply said.

"You're kidding!" the one in glasses said, "We ain't got time for some slacker!"

"Wait!" the black-haired student called out, "I know you. You're that guy who's with that other Slifer, the one who had to duel Anais, right?" he didn't wait for an answer and smirked, "Hey, why don't you get up here! You are here for a duel, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Jason went and climbed up onto the arena where he and Chazz stood on opposite ends.

"Y'know, believe it or not I've been looking for you. It's not every day one of Duel Academy's best of faculty. But then again, you did get lucky. Let's put that theory to the test..." Right before he could turn on his duel-disk...

"Hey, looks like someone's started without us!" Everyone turned to find Jaden and Syrus entering the arena.

"So you decided to show up..." Chazz muttered.

"You better believe it! There's no way I was gonna miss this!" Jaden said, "But you didn't tell me you already got someone else taken!"

Chazz smirked, "Well, today's your lucky day. Why wait?" he pointed to Jaden and then Jaden, "I'll take both of you on at the same time!"

"Works for me!" Jaden then climbed up to the arena and stopped next to Jason, "Hey, looks like we'll be teaming up, right?" he tapped his hand against Jason's arm.

"Uh-huh..." Jason mumbled, rubbing his arm.

"Since this is a 2-on-1 duel, let me go over a few ground rules!" Chazz explained, "I'll keep this as simply as possible: both of you get the usual 4000 points while I get twice the amount; that's 8000! Also, none of us can attack on the first turn! Any questions?"

"None here!" Jason remained quiet.

"Good. Now it's time to if two amateurs beating the academy's top faculty was a fluke, or a fact!"

"Yeah, well, we're gonna find out somethin' else, too. Like which one of the two of us is really gonna become the next King of Games!"

"Yeah, yeah, just make sure you have your best card ready to hand over when you lose."

"You, too. Now game on!" Taking this as a cue, Jason activated his duel-disk along with Jaden and Chazz. When he looked closer, he realized that the latter twos' disks are different that the one he and Jaden used earlier. Their card-playing surfaces nested partway into the side of the core of it that sat on the wrist, and is divided into two portions. The portion with the three card slots that extended from the wrist to the elbow nested, and the other two extended from the wrist end of those, a central, circular piece that lit up red when the disk was in use. The core of the duel-disk itself, as always, contained the deck slot, graveyard slot, and the life-point counter is probably on there somewhere. Where the life-point counter is on his, there's instead a big, rounded, translucent blue centerpiece. The entire design is smooth, futuristic and rounded.

**Chazz: 8000**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

"All right, slacker!" Chazz drew his sixth card and looked at it, then at his other cards in his hand, "For my first move, I'll summon (6) Reborn Zombie(4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1600) in DEF mode!" a hideous-looking zombie in tattered robes appeared (DEF: 1600), "And I'll also place one card face-down." a reverse card then appeared. "That should do for now."

"Okay, now it's my turn," Jason drew his sixth card, "I activate the magic card Fusion Sage. This lets me take a Polymerization magic card from my deck and add it to my hand." he picked the magic card from his deck, and then sat down to shuffle his deck.

"This again?!" the blue student with glasses groaned.

"Let me guess, can't shuffle your deck while standing up?" Chazz taunted.

Jason ignored him and stood up to continue, "Now I activate the magic card Polymerization. With this I send Elemental Heroes Ice Edge and Heat from my hand to the graveyard to special-summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero from my fusion-deck!" the two monsters combined and the warrior in white armor appeared (ATK: 2500).

"I was hoping you would do that..." Chazz sneered, leaving Jason confused, "because that card I just played face-down was a trap, slacker. That you've set off!" the reverse-card on his field rose up, "Chthonian Polymer, do your stuff!"

"What's Chthonian Polymer's... 'stuff'?" Syrus wondered.

"I had a feeling I'd find you guys here," Syrus quickly turned to see the blonde girl in the while-and-blue school uniform walk over to the sidelines next to him, not looking happy herself, "Chthonian Polymer's a nasty trap. It allows you to take control of an opponent's fusion-monster by sacrificing one of your own creatures."

"Oh no... Jason just summoned a fusion monster!"

"Now I sacrifice my monster to take control of one of yours! Red Rover, Red Rover, send that Absolute Zero right over!" Reborn Zombie spontaneously combusted in a sinister burst of light, and Absolute Zero glowed white and disappeared from Jason's side of the field onto Chazz's. Covered in a shadowy aura, Absolute Zero rose again, this time as an enemy.

"How did he know I was gonna summon a fusion-monster...?" Jason mumbled to himself.

"How did I know?!" Chazz laughed, "Apparently I know more about Elemental Heroes than you do! Using fusion is second nature! You're as predictable as its strategy!"

"Well... Well that's a special-summon. So I can still summon a monster from my hand. But I'll set a monster face-down in DEF position instead. Then, I'll place one card face-down and end my turn." two face-down cards appeared.

"Alright, my turn!" Jaden drew his sixth card, "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in DEF mode!" the large, rocky hero knelt in front of him (DEF: 2000), "There. All set."

Chazz drew his next card, "Yeah; set up, to get knocked down! Rise, (7) Chthonian Soldier(4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1400)!" a warrior in dark armor appeared, wielding a large, curved sword in hand (ATK: 1200),

"Now I activate yet another spell card Double Attack! By sending a monster card from my hand to the grave, my Chthonian Soldier can now attack twice this turn!" Chazz discarded the monster Helpomer, "And now, Absolute Zero, attack that face-down!" Absolute Zero smashed into Jason's face-down, which was revealed as Elemental Hero Woodsman, "Now it's Chthonian Soldier's turn! Attack, Double Windstorm Slash!" the soldier heaved its sword and charged at Jason, striking him with his sword.

**Chazz: 8000**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 2800**

"Now I'll enhance him with the equip-spell, Cursed Armaments! This reduces my soldier's ATK points by 600!" the soldier suited in venomous violet armor with a shield, his sword replaced (ATK: 600).

"Why would he lower his monster's points?" Jason wondered.

"Now I'll end my turn with a face-down card," a reverse-card appeared, "Care to give another try?"

"Okay, it's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate the magic card A Hero Lives. While I have no monsters on my field, I can summon an Elemental Hero from my deck. So I summon Elemental Hero Ocean in ATK position!" the merman hero arrived on the field (ATK: 1500).

**Chazz: 8000**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 1400**

"Elemental Hero Ocean, attack Cthonian Soldier!" Ocean struck down the soldier, resulting in a small explosion. Out of the cloud of smoke and debris, the cursed sword came twisting up in the air, and shot straight for Jason, striking right through.

**Chazz: 7100**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 500**

"Now you did it! When Chthonian Soldier's destroyed, you receive the same amount of damage to your life-points as I do. Difference, is, you hardly have any to spare!" Chazz said, "And that's not all; since Cursed Armament's was equipped to my soldier when it was destroyed, it moves onto a new monster as its new host!" the cursed armor then attached itself onto Elemental Hero Ocean (ATK: 900). "Are ya starting to know your place here at the Academy yet? I don't know what kind of duelist you were back at home, and frankly it doesn't matter! Because here in the big leagues, you're nothing but a pathetic little amateur, Slifer Slime!" somehow what Jason had been told had hit a nerve as he stared at the floor. He was hardly able to meet other duelist due to being the only person in town who had a deck. That was because he thought this game wasn't such a big deal, it was just some card game. When he learned that game became a spectator sport and there was a school made for such a thing, he was excited. But now, in his first day at the academy, he felt put down and humiliated. It's just like the 8th grade all over again. Those were horrible times in middle school.

"Hey, what's wrong with you!" Jason looked up to see Jaden scowling at him, "Are you breaking down just by listening to what this guy's saying? You gotta toughen up!

you want to in to the world of dueling, you can't just take the parts you like! You gotta take in the trash-talking, along with action! you gotta take the humiliation along with victory! If you wanna duel, you gotta take in the good with the bad!" Jaden words were deep. Maybe there are good points in this game like there are bad in any other. And whether he wins or loses, he want's to play the game. "So, win or lose, are you ready to play the game?"

Jason took a deep breath, "Thank you."

"Hey, don't mention it!"

"If you're quite done with this little soap opera...!" Chazz interrupted, "I'd like to take your rare cards sometime tonight!"

Jason took a card from his hand and place it in his duel-disk, "I place 1 card face-down and end my turn."

"My turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "I play Elemental Hero Sparkman in DEF mode!" the electric hero appeared (DEF: 1400). "Next I throw down a face-down and end my turn!"

"Play what you like. My next move will finish off your life-points!" Chazz drew his next card, "First I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted!" the face-down card lifted as a continuous-trap card, "It lets me select one monster card from my graveyard, and summon it back to the field in ATK mode. Rise, Infernal Warrior!" the warrior in black armor reappeared (ATK: 1200), "But he won't be staying on the field for long, because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon, (8) Mefist the Infernal General(ATK: 1800/DEF: 1700)!" the warrior disappeared and was replaced my a taller dark warrior wielding a large staff-axe, mounted on a fearsome-looking steed (ATK: 1800).

"Not bad." Jaden said, looking impressed.

"Not bad?" Chazz scoffed, "You're somethin' else, slacker, ya know that? Acting all confident. Too bad I can't say the same about you little friend over there! Go, Absolute Zero! Attack Elemental Hero Ocean!" Absolute Zero rushed across the field ready to pummel the merman. But before he was able to attack, the monster somehow split into two monster, Elemental heroes Ice Edge and Heat. "What just happened!? That monster should've been fish-food!"

"Before you attacked, I activated the quick-play magic card, De-Fusion!" Jason's reverse-card opened, "This separates a fusion monster into its 2 original monsters! And since it's a quick-play spell-"

"I know what a quick-play spell does!" Chazz snapped, "You must be forgetting I still have a monster on the field! Mefist, attack!" but the dark horseman remained a frozen statue before it shattered, "No!"

"And you must've forgotten about Absolute Zero's special-ability!" Jaden said, "When Zero's removed from the field, every one of your monsters are destroyed!"

"Pure luck! Just make your move!"

"Will do..." Jason drew his next card, "I activate Ocean's effect, which lets me add an Elemental Hero from my field or graveyard to my hand! I choose my Elemental Hero Woodsman! Next, I summon Elemental Hero Lady Heat in ATK mode!" the female flame-throwing hero appeared (ATK: 1300), "And for Heat's effect, he gains 200 ATK points for each Elemental Hero monster on my field! And since there are 4, he gets 800 ATK points (ATK: 2400), "

And since you don't have any monsters on your field, my monsters can attack you directly!"

"Not while I have the Negate Attack trap card out!" Chazz's reverse-card formed a barrier that repelled Jason's monsters. "You're gonna have to do better than that, Slifer!"

"Then I place 1 card face-down and I'll end my turn, which activates Lady Heat's effect, dealing 200 points of damage to you for every Elemental Hero on my field." four small fireballs hovered around Lady Heat before they shot towards Chazz, causing explosions around him.

**Chazz: 6300**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 500**

"That was pretty good..." Chazz muttered to himself.

"Okay, my turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "I activate my Polymerization, to fuse Elemental Heroes Avian And Burstinatrix to form Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" the bird-like hero and flame-throwing heroine combined into the same monster that was used to defeat Crowler at the exams (ATK: 2100), "Next, I activate the spell Monster Reborn! With this I can bring back any monster as long as it's in the graveyard! So I'll bring back Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!" the decorative ornament appeared on the field. A bright light shown to bring in the new monster. But eventually... "Uh, what's going on? Where's Absolute Zero?"

"See, that's the thing..." Jason told him, "Absolute Zero can only be summoned in a fusion! Once he leaves the field, that's it!"

"Oh... Then I'll just bring back Burstinatrix!" the fiery heroine descended onto the field (ATK: 1200), "Now, Sparkman, attack with Shining Surge Flash and put a shock to his system!" Sparkman threw a series of lightning volts.

**Chazz: 4700**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 500**

"Next up, is Flame Wingman!" Flame Wingman rose to the sky and fired a streak of flame from his dragon-like arm at Chazz.

**Chazz: 2600**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 500**

"And last but not least, Burstinatrix! Attack with Burstfire!" Burstinatrix formed an orb of red fire and tossed it at Chazz causing an even bigger explosion on impact.

**Chazz: 1400**

**Jaden: 4000**

**Jason: 500**

"And that's it for my turn!" Jaden concluded.

"Well, it's about time!" Chazz drew his next card, "I summon (9) Diskblade Rider(4/ATK: 1700/DEF: 1500)!" a fiendish-looking, green-skinned warrior appeared sitting on a terrifying-looking motorcycle (ATK: 1700), "And it has enough ATK points to run over the rest of Slifer no.2's life-points wait 'till you see his special-ability! He gains 500 extra ATK points until the end of your next turn, just by removing a normal-rap card like Chthonian Polymer from play!" Chazz took the card from his graveyard slot and placed it into his pocket (ATK: 2200), "Now I equip his with the Sword of Deep-Seated spell card! This gives him 500 extra ATK and DEF points!" a large sword with a violet blade was now held in Diskblade's hand (ATK: 2700/DEF: 2000), "Not it has more that enough strength to take out any one of your monsters! And I think I'll use that strength on your Elemental Hero Ocean!"

"Uh, guys!" Alexis called, "We got company. Campus Security. If they find us all in here, we'll get seriously busted."

"What?!" Syrus yelped.

Jaden turned to her, nervous, "W-why? I mean, we're all students here."

"Ahem..."Alexis took a little book out of her pocket and pointed to it, "The rules say no off-hour arena duels! Chazz knows that!" she looked towards the blue-wearing student who began to blush, "But lemme guess: he didn't tell you."

One of his classmates leaned forward from the stands. "Come on, let's go!"

Chazz snorted and turned to leave, the holograms vanishing behind him, "Well, well, slackers. Looks like you lucked out, this time!"

"Whaddaya talkin' about, the match isn't over!" Jaden protested.

"Yeah it is. I've seen what I came here to see," Chazz jumped down from the arena platform and walked away with his classmates, "You're a sorry duelist. You beating Doctor Crowler was just a fluke! And your partner is way worse! He'd be the prized example of where Slifer's belong: at the bottom!"

"Guys, we gotta get outta here!" Syrus urged, "Come on, let's go!"

Jason felt a little upset because of the last thing Chazz had said, but had to step off the arena anyway, see Jaden standing miffed with his arms crossed.

* * *

They managed to sneak back out to the front entrance; Syrus pushed Jaden over to Alexis, having apparently shoved him the whole way there, "You certainly are stubborn, Jaden." Alexis groaned.

Jaden still looked aggravated over the duel ending early, "Only about my dueling."

"Thanks for showin' us the back way out!" Syrus thanked Alexis.

"Sure. I'm sorry that you didn't get to finish your match with Chazz."

"It's okay. I know just how it would've ended anyway." Jaden said, smug.

"Wait..." Jason spoke up, "Did you mean you knew what my face-down card was?"

"Hm, what?" Jaden wondered, confused, then realized what Jason was talking about, "Say, you had a face-down too, right? What was it?"

"Really. No offense, but, from my point of view, it could've gone either way between you and Chazz when you guys stopped. " Alexis said cynically.

"No way; not after I threw this down!" Jaden showed everyone the card he had laid face-down. Jason squinted his eyes to look at a picture of a series of mirrors. He head Alexis gasp a bit and figured out that Jaden would've won. Jaden nodded slightly; he knew he would've won. But what does this card do? "See ya." he smiled as he and Syrus ran back to the red dorm, with Jason unconsciously following.

* * *

Jason made it back to his room without waking up his roommate, and sat on the bottom bunk. He looked at the card he had laid face-down when he was dueling. It looked like some kind of short, pudgy man in makeup floating around. Someone told him it was based off of some japanese spirit that caused trouble or pull pranks or something. He already forgotten its name; it was too hard to pronounce. He knew if Chazz had attacked, he would have had won the duel. He felt proud of himself. But there was still his matter in staying in the academy...

* * *

**DUEL-MON DATABASE**

**(1) Elemental Hero Clayman  
**

**Stats: [Warrior] LV: 3 (ATK: 800/DEF: 2000)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**(2) Elemental Hero Sparkman  
**

**Stats: [Warrior] LV: 4 (ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400)**

**Attribute: LIGHT  
**

**(3) Elemental Hero Bubbleman  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 800/DEF: 1200)**

**Attribute: WATER  
**

**********Effect: If this is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon it. When this card is Summoned, if you control no other cards, you can draw 2 cards.**

**(4) Elemental Hero Heat  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1600/DEF: 1200)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

**********Effect: This card gains 200 ATK for each face-up "Elemental HERO" monster you control.  
**

**(5) Elemental Hero Woodsman  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1000/DEF: 2000)**

**Attribute: EARTH  
**

**********************Effect: Once per turn, during your Standby Phase: You can add 1 "Polymerization" from your Deck or Graveyard to your hand.  
**

**(6) Reborn Zombie  
**

**Stats: [Zombie/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1000/DEF: 1600)**

**************************Attribute: DARK  
**

**************************Effect: While you have no cards in your hand and this card is in Attack Position, it cannot be destroyed by battle.**

**(7) Chthonian Soldier  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1200/DEF: 1400)**

**************************Attribute: DARK  
**

******************************************************Effect: When this card is destroyed by an opponent's attacking monster and sent to the Graveyard, the Battle Damage you took from this battle is also inflicted to your opponent.  
**

**(8) Mefist the Infernal General  
**

**Stats: [Fiend/Effect] LV: 5 (ATK: 1800/DEF: 1700)**

**************************Attribute: DARK  
**

******************************************************Effect: When this card attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points. When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points, discard 1 card randomly from your opponent's hand.  
**

**(9) Diskblade Rider  
**

**Stats: [Fiend/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1700/DEF: 1500)**

**************************Attribute: WIND  
**

**************************************************************************************************************Effect: Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 Normal Trap Card from your Graveyard. This card gains 500 ATK until the End Phase of your opponent's turn.**

* * *

**DUEL-MON TRIVIA**

**"Hey, Duelists! Did you know..."**

**"Mefist's Japanese name, 'Hell General-Mephisto', is named after Mephistopheles, a demon to whom Faustus sold his soul in the play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe."**

* * *

**Please Read and Review.**


	3. Red vs Blue

**Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi**

* * *

Before we begin, I'd like to bring you this character sheet for the OCs you might submit. Just remember to send them via review or PM, the only catch is that you must have a fanfiction account so that you may take credit.

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Appearance:

Personality:

History: (and/or reasons for coming to Duel Academy)

Dorm: (Remember, no females in Slifer Red or Ra Yellow)

Deck: (no 5D's/Zexal exclusive cards/if any original decks please try not to make them too powerful)

Quirks: (meaning flaws or strange behavior/optional)

Likes:

Dislikes:

Duel Spirit: (would play an important role in Spirit Caller/optional)

* * *

An annoying buzzing sound woke Jason up from his sleep. He felt for the alarm clock he set up until he had to yank it out of the outlet to turn that noise off. Jason sat up, still groggy and with not enough sleep thanks to that duel last night. He looked at his PDA for the time. 5:00 is early for a guy like Jason. But he'll be busy this morning so he had better get ready.

* * *

_After an hour of still not finding his tuition check, he had to go back to the main building and to the principal's office. Waiting for him and sitting behind his desk was the old, bald guy from the video, with Crowler and Anais beside his desk._

_"Now I understand that your tuition check somehow 'disappeared' even though you say you turned it in?"_

_"Yes, sir..." Jason answered._

_"See? He admits it!" Crowler told the principal, "Now, it's quite obvious that he forgot to bring his check with him. It's no big deal, we just have to call in a boat to take him back to the mainlands."_

_"Yes, I would agree with you, Doctor Crowler. However..." the principal turned around on his chair and looked out at the large window in front of him, "As Anais so charged, the incoming students were made to show their means of tuition to teachers who accompanied them on their trip towards here; they had to do the same thing before they disembarked."_

_"And I was there among the students who were to collect the tuition behind the door when they entered the main building today," Anais said, "He may have lost it somewhere on the island "And if it hasn't turned up by now it's likely someone had found it, probably one of the students."_

_The principal turned his chair back and gave Jason a stern look, "So, what do you suggest we do about this little situation, Mr. Hutchins."_

_"Well, I thought about it," Jason replied, "What if I work for the money?"_

_The principal raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry?"_

_"I could help around the school and clean up and fix the yards and stuff."_

_"Absolutely not!" Crowler screeched, "Now only is child labor is illegal-"_

_"I suggest we take up on his offer," Anais interrupted, "I did ask the superintendent and he agreed to let a couple of students volunteer for the year. If this student wants to give it a try, then this should be the perfect opportunity to try the volunteer work course."_

_"Of course," the principal nodded before turning back to Jason, "I guess I'll accept your decision. But there are certain guidelines to go over..."_

* * *

Jason heard a knock on the door and answered it, seeing Anais looking at him; and it was still a bit dark out. "I take it you got a good night's sleep?"

Jason yawned, "Yes, ma'am."

"Then you should take these," Anais gave him a burlap sack and a clipboard, "This is the mail that's to go out to the students and faculty of the academy. And here's the clipboard of all the personnel. I want you to arrange them according to dorms and facilities. After that, take them to their respective dorms and put them in their mailboxes. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. This collection is small compared to what you'll usually see. So you should be done by 10 AM. I expect it to be done by then. So I'll leave you to it." she then turned away, leaving Jason with the sack. He pulled the string and dumped out the contents. 'There's a lot of mail here. Just how many student's are there on this island?' Jason sighed, 'This is going to be a long morning...' he then sat down on the floor to sort the mail.

* * *

After two hours of organizing the mail he was making his way down the path towards the yellow dorm until eventually, he found it. The Ra Yellow dorm looked bigger that the red dorm and looked something like the library he went to back at home. As he went to the entrance he could see the main building from there. When he entered he found a metal-tiled wall along the sides of the main hall down to the intersection. Looking closer he saw that they were compartments and that they were opened. Those must me the mailboxes Anais was talking about. The looked like something the apartment building he was staying with his uncle in had. Now that he knew where the mail boxes were he searched the sack he was carrying for the Ra Yellow mail.

* * *

After Jason put the mail where it belonged he made his way to his next decided destination. When he got there he saw he was waling towards a large, white castle, or at least that's what it looks like. This was the Obelisk Blue dorm, due to the blue cones and roofs on top of the building. But as he approached he saw three students in blue garbs walking towards him. His heart suddenly sank when he recognized them as the Obelisk Blue students from last night. Maybe if he turned his face away from them they won't recognize them.

"Hey! Whaddaya think you're doing here?!" one of them yelled at him. Jason ignored him as he walked passed them.

"Hello! We're talking to you!" Jason still ignored them as he kept walking to the entrance. But before he could open the door he was yanked away. He dropped his sack as he was being held by his arms and dragged back outside to face one of their own.

"I guess you mom didn't teach you to respect you superiors..." Chazz's sneer dropped when he took a closer look at him, "Wait, you're one of those punks from the arena last night! Well, you got five seconds to tell me what you're doing on Obelisk territory!"

"Look, I don't want any trouble," Jason replied, trying to remain calm, "I'm just here to deliver some mail to the Obelisk Blue dorm."

"Whoever said we need some Slifer touching our mail, huh?" Chazz threatened.

"I'm just doing what Ms. Anais told me, that's all!"

"Well, it doesn't matter if King Tut's making you do it! Anybody trespasses on Obelisk property, they're gonna pay the price!" Chazz pulled on Jason's collar and reeled in his fist...

"What's going on here?!" Jason heard forth voice called out over him, and found Crowler looking out an open window until he found Jason with the three Obelisk students, "Oh! Already the first day of school and three of my students are making a new friend! Well then, carry on!" Jason thought he saw Crowler sneering as he went back inside. When he looked back down, he saw a balled-up fist rushing straight towards him...

* * *

It took Jason no time to continue on his path to delivering mail; not because it took no time giving the Obelisk boys their mail (one of them managed to take it themselves while he was out cold; no one even bothered to check up on him before he woke up); he somehow found himself carrying the reminding mail in his arms after finding the sack he was carrying them in with a large hole ripped on it. This made his job a lot harder, especially when he just dropped his mail for the fifth time. He was lucky he decided to walk alongside the lake and not manage to drop any in there. But it's getting real tiresome having to pick them up all over again.

"Excuse me, do you need any help?" Jason looked up to see a girl in a Obelisk Blue uniform crouched down to his level. She had tanned skin with a head of dark-silver hair styled in an arching ponytail. She also wore a necklace, a pair of bracelets and anklets, all made from heavy chain-links.

Jason stood looking at the kind face the girl gave him, "Uh... Yeah, sure." he replied and let her help pick up the mail. When she picked up her share and looked up at him, she saw something Jason didn't want her to see...

"What happened to her face?!" she gasped. Jason was afraid some one was going to see the black eye Chazz gave him. He thought lowering his giant back over it will keep it hidden. "I think you should go to the nurse about this. C'mon, I'll take you." the girl then dragged Jason down the dirt road.

* * *

The place she took him to was another white building with stilts standing in the lake, which happened to be the Obelisk dorm for girls. And as it turned out, the teacher in charge there happened to be the school nurse.

When they went to her office she fixed up his wound, dressing ointment lightly over his eye before giving him an icepack. When she asked him what happened, Jason told her what happened at the other Obelisks' dorm.

"Well, I'm sorry that happened to you," the nurse apologized, "I'll make sure their headmaster knows about this. Why don't you go on to class?" Jason nodded and was lead out of the girl's dorm.

* * *

Jason walked all the way to the main building with the girl he met leading the way. It was pretty awkward at the time because they had nothing to talk about, until they stopped at the classroom door. "By the way, I never got you name..."

"Jason..." he answered, "Jason Hutchins."

"Well my name is Chakra. Chakra Silvers," the girl smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Jason Hutchins." they entered into the giant room where class is already in progress.

But the teacher happened to be the last person he would want to be in the same room with, "My goodness, Ms. Silvers! Where have you been?!" Crowler gasped, "I've called for you ten times! I was starting to worry!"

"Sorry for the lateness, Doctor Crowler," Chakra called as she walked down the stairs, "I've just been held up is all."

"Oh? Well, that's quite understandable," Crowler said and sneered as he glared at Jason, "I assume that's the lost little lamb you've been helping out," Jason could hear people laughing at him as he went to sit in one of the seats a the edge near the top. But as soon as he was about to take a seat he was kicked off by one of the student and fell back to the stairs, making everyone else laugh harder.

"What gives...?" Jason groaned.

"Why don't you look around?" Chazz, the guy who just pushed him, said, "Slifer's sit neat the bottom! I guess you're colorblind otherwise you can see that!" Jason sighed in exasperation as we walked down past the laughing students to find a seat...

* * *

After a long day of classes, Jason decided to calm his nerve by visiting something scenic, which happened to be the lake near the two Obelisks dorms. He made sure he wasn't too close to either. As he sat on his Slifer Red jacket and watched the sparkling, clear water, he couldn't help but think back to everything that happened to him so far since he came here. And since it was only a day and a half, it was his second duel that attracted his nerves the most. That one he had against Chazz was tough. And like any other bully he found Jason the easiest to pick on. He pulled out his deck and looked over his cards as he heard the Obelisk's jeers repeat in his head. Is this how all Slifer Reds are treated? Do all Obelisks look down on them like some high-school stereotypes...?

If that's the case, then he won't have it. So he'd better improve his game. So he stood up and removed his duel-disk and strapped it on, activated it and drew his hand. "Alright... I activate Polymerization!" Jason played his spell card to combine the Elemental Heroes Ice Edge and Knopse to form Absolute Zero. The water in which the white-armored warrior landed on froze mid-splash, forming large slabs of ice that each point away from the frigid hero.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Jason spun around and spotted a girl with short black hair tied with a small ponytail. She held her hands with a dazzled look in her eyes.

He felt embarrassed that someone was there watching him, "You really think so...?"

"What kind of monster is that?" she asked.

"And Elemental Hero. He's called Absolute Zero."

"Elemental Hero?" the girl gasped, "Then you're that guy Alexis talked about!"

"Alexis?" Jason wondered, not realizing it was the same blonde girl from last night. "She know who I am?"

"She talked about how you beaten Crowler at that entrance exam! And he was supposed to be one of the top faculty duelists in the academy!" she pulled out her academy duel-disk, "I've been meaning to find you; so you and I can duel."

Jason found this as an opportunity to clear his thoughts of his worries, so he agreed. "Okay, sure."

With that, the Obelisk Blue student activated her duel-disk and inserted her deck, "And by the way, my name's Mindy!"

"My name's Jason."

**Jason: 4000**

**Mindy: 4000**

"Okay, let's get started," Mindy looked into the first card she drawn, "I summon (1) Familiar Knight(3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1400) in DEF mode!" a grey-armored warrior with a red cape appeared wit a sword and large shield (DEF: 1400), "Then I place 1 card face-down and end my turn!" a reverse-card appeared behind the knight.

"Alright, my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Hero Heat in ATK mode!" the male fire-based warrior appeared (ATK: 1600-1800), "Attack Familiar Knight!" Heat smashed his fist into the knight and destroyed it.

"You just triggered Familiar Knight's special-ability! Now we both can summon a level-4 monster from our hand! The monster I chose to summon is (2) Big Shield Gardna(4/ATK: 100/DEF: 2600)!" a wild-haired man appeared in the knight's place, hiding behind a large purple shield (DEF: 2600).

"And the monster I summon will be Elemental Hero Ocean!" the merman hero appeared beside Heat (ATK: 1500), "And with another Elemental Hero on the field, Heat gains 200 more ATK points (ATK: 2000)!"

"Now I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted!" Mindy revealed her reverse-card, "This lets me bring my Familiar Knight back from the graveyard!" the grey-armored warrior returned.

"Then Ocean can attack Familiar Knight!" Ocean struck down the knight.

**Jason: 4000**

**Mindy: 3700**

"That activates Familiar Knight's special-ability again! So I summon Celtic Guardian!" a elvin warrior in green armor appeared (ATK: 1400)

"And I summon Elemental Hero Knospe!" the small plant hero appeared (ATK: 600), "And while another Elemental Hero is on the field, Knospe can be protected by my other monsters, and attack you directly!" Knospe fired its seeds at Mindy.

**Jason: 4000**

**Mindy: 3100**

"And when Knospe inflicts damage, his ATK poins increase by 100 while he loses 100 DEF (ATK: 700/DEF: 900). That ends my turn."

"I draw!" Mindy drew her next card, "I sacrifice my two warriors to summon (3)Gilford the Lightning (7/ATK: 2800/DEF: 1400)!" the two monsters vanished and was replaced by a muscular warrior wearing silver patches of armor complete with a helmet and red cape (ATK: 2800), "This monster's strong enough to stop any monster on your field! And I'll use it to destroy your Elemental Hero Heat!" Gilford reached back for his giant sword and use it to cut Heat down. The force of the attack passed through Jason and made the water behind him part.

**Jason: 3200**

**Mindy: 3100**

"Now I place a card face-down and end my turn!"

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate Elemental Hero Ocean's effect which lets me return an Elemental Hero monster from my graveyard to my hand, so I'll add Heat back into my hand," he retrieved his monster from his graveyard slot, "Now I activate Polymerization to send Elemental Hero Ocean from my field to the graveyard with the Elemental Hero Woodsman from my hand, so I can summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!" a white mist surrounded Jason's field as the white-armored hero rose from it (ATK: 2500), "Next I summon Elemental Heat back to the field!" the fire hero returned (ATK: 1600-2200), "Absolute Zero, attack Gilford the Lightning!"

"But your monster is weaker than mine! It'll be destroyed!" Mindy said as Gilford struck down on Absolute Zero.

**Jason: 2900**

**Mindy: 3100**

Elemental Hero Heat: (ATK: 2000)

"I know my monster will be destroyed. Because when it's removed from the field, all monsters on your field are destroyed!"

"What?!" Mindy gasped as Gilford froze solid and then shattered.

"Now Elemental Heroes Heat and Knospe will attack you directly!" Heat combined his fire with Knospe's firing seeds.

**Jason: 2900**

**Mindy: 400**

Elemental Hero Knospe: (ATK: 800/DEF: 800)

"Now I end my turn."

"It's my turn now!" Mindy drew her next card, "

I activate the spell Monster Reborn to bring back my Gilford the Lightning!" the mighty warrior returned (ATK: 2800), "Next I activate my face-down trap card, Last Turn!" when her reverse-card opened, the wind picked up around them, creating a whirlwind around the field.

"What's going on...?" Jason wondered as he looked around and found his monsters pulled in.

"When I have less than 1000 life-points, I can activte this card and pick one of my monsters on the field," Mindy explained, "Then after sending all other cards to the graveyard, you can pick out a monster from your deck to summon to the field to battle with my monster! The duelist whose monster remains on the field with the duel, no matter how many life-points we have! No go ahead and pick a monster!"

Jason looked through his cards and deadpanned. There was no monster there that's stronger than Gilford. But then he stopped at a certain monster. Remembering its effect, he found his answer and played it, "I summon (4) Phantom Magician(3/ATK: 600/DEF: 700)!" a monster with a skeleton-like body drapped over a tattered, crimson cape appeared (ATK: 700)

After a short battle, Gilford effortlessly smashed the magician in pieces with his sword. "I guess I win!" Mindy cheered.

"I activate Phantom Magician's effect," Jason said, "When it's destroyed in battle, I can summon a Hero monster with 1000 or less ATK points in DEF mode! And I choose Elemental Hero Ice Edge." the small ice warrior took Phantom Magician's place (ATK: 700). Soon the hurricane died down and the holograms disappeared.

"Wow. This never happened before..." Mindy said, surprised. "Normally there's only one monster left after battle in Last Turn."

"You said the duelist whose monster remained wind the duel, right?" Jason guessed, "But if we both have a monster out, doesn't that make it a draw?"

"That makes sense!" Mindy replied before smiling, "I can see why Alexis is keeping an eye on you!"

Suddenly there was a rock that flew and hit Jason in the arm. He yelped and found Chazz and the other Obelisks from this morning, the former tossing a rock in his hand. I almost didn't recognize you without that stupid jacket on. I thought I told you to stay out!" he tossed another rock that hit Jason's shoulder.

"What are you doing?!" Jason shouted at him as he held his shoulder.

"You still don't get it yet, do you?" Chazz snapped as he picked up another rock, "This is Obelisk territory! And since you're obviously too dimwitted to figure it out yet, that means 'No, Slifers, Allowed!"

Jason shut his eyes as Chazz threw another rock at him. When the impact never came, he opened him and found the girl he met this morning standing near him, holding a long chain-link rope in her hands with stone fragments in the sand close to her. "I'd like to know what's going on here!" Chakra demanded with a stern look.

"I'm just doing a little pest control!" Chazz scoffed. "What? You got a thing for this little rat?"

"Maybe you should go back to your dorm before I tell faculty that you're assaulting a fellow student!" Chakra threatened as she tightened the grip on her chain, "So what's it going to be?"

After a few moments Chazz huffed, "This is getting ridiculous! I'm outta here!" the Obelisk stormed off with the other two.

"I guess that managed to drive them off," Mindy stated, as she watched the whole thing. "Are you okay?"

When Mindy held Jason's arm to check on it, he suddenly felt uncomfortable, not used to having a girl make physical contact with him, "I'm fine..." he said as he gently pulled his arm away.

"I think you dropped this," Chakra gave Jason's academy jacket to him. Jason dusted the sand off of it and put it on.

"Wait a minute, you're a Slifer Red?" Mindy asked.

"Yes..." Jason answered, still nervous. "Why? Is that a problem?"

"Oh, no problem. I didn't think you could hold your own so well. I thought all Slifers were just a bunch of weak duelists," Jason spirits dampened as he took offense to that comment. "I guess you're one of the lucky ones. That was a great duel, though. Later!" Mindy walked off to her dormitory.

"Do all Blues think that little of Reds?" Jason muttered to himself, not knowing that Chakra was listening.

"I don't think Mindy meant it like that," she said, "she gave you a compliment, so that counts, right?"

After being surprised that she heard him, Jason replied. "I guess so."

"Anyway, you should be going back to your own dorm if you don't want any more trouble."

"I think I should, too," Jason walked off to the other direction before stopping, "Thanks for helping me out back there."

Chakra smiled, "Don't mention it. I'm just helping out a fellow student."

* * *

After a long day of school/work he was relieved he could lie down on a bed. He thought back to that girl he dueled a while ago. He couldn't believe he was mistaken for his next-door neighbor. Maybe it was his fault for not speaking out when she thought he was the one against Crowler at the entrance exams. He yawned as felt tired and soon fell asleep.

He fell from the top bunk when his PDA went ringing. After shaking off the stars and checked his PDA to find a recent message send to him. Jason opened it and it reads:

'Meet me at the lake between the two Blue dorms. Bring your duel-disk.'

This message was signed by Chakra. What could she possible want? He decided to find out and go to the lake...

* * *

When he made it to his destination there was no one around. But he spotted a note attached to a small wooden boat. It was a bit dark to read the note but it said to 'row across the lake to find the truth'. What truth? He was curious to find out so he pushed the boat onto the lake and hopped aboard. It was his first time rowing on a boat but he was a quick learner. He still wondered why Chakra would want to meet him around here with his cards...

Suddenly he heard the sound of a motor roaring as a speedboat came racing towards him. When it passed Jason's boat it was being yanked by a hook attached to a rope, pulling it across the lake a for a minute until it stopped at the center.

"What took you so long, Slifer?" Jason stood up and saw Chazz on the back of the boat with his two accomplices. "I'm guessing you were expecting Chakra, right?"

"How did you know?" Jason demanded which was replied from a laugh from his two partners.

"Cause we're the ones who sent that message!" the one in glasses answered.

"We figured you couldn't resist seeing her again," the one with brown hair added, "It's the perfect bait to call you out here!"

"And in case you still haven't figured it out yet..." Chazz said as he strapped on his duel-disk, "I wanna finish what we started back in Obelisk Arena! And this time, you won't get off so easily!"

"But why here? And why now?" Jason asked.

"You'll find out in a minute! Now get out your deck and let's duel!" Jason thought he wouldn't have to worry about Chazz Princeton at least for a while, but it looked like he didn't want to let Jason off easily. So he equipped his duel-disk and placed his deck inside. "Just like last time, loser give up their rarest card! Now let's go!"

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

"Superiority rules here, so I'll go first!" Chazz declared as he drew his first card, "And I'll start by playing (5) Mine Golem(3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1900) in DEF mode!" a single-eyed figure completely made of stone appeared over the water, knelt down with its arms crossed (DEF: 1900), "Then I place two card face-down," two reverse-cards appeared, "Try to get pass this, Slifer."

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I place 1 monster face-down in DEF mode," a reversed monster appeared, "I'll end my turn there."

"Scared already, huh?" Chazz drew his next card, "Well this next card will have you shaking in your boots! But first, I activate the continuous-trap card, Ultimate Offering!" one of Chazz's reverse-cards opened, "So from now on, I can summon a extra monster out to the field for a small price of 500 life-points! So now I pay 1000..."

**Chazz: 3000**

**Jason: 4000**

"And summon out two more Mine Golems, this time in ATK mode! As well as one (6) Flame Ruler(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1600)!" two more Golems appeared (ATK: 1000), along with a blue-haired man wearing a red overcoat (ATK: 1500), "Next I switch my first golem to ATK as well, and equip him with the Chthonian Alliance spell card! You know how they say there's strength in numbers? This card really lives up to its name as it boosts the ATK of one of my monster by 800 for each copy on the field with it!"

Dummy Golem (ATK: 1000-2600)

"Now let's see what that Slifer's hiding! Mine Golem, attack that face-down card!" Mine Golem fired a laser beam from its single eye and cut Jason's card in two, revealing it as Phantom Magician before being destroyed.

"Phantom Magician's effect activates!" Jason said, "Now I can summon an Elemental Hero from my deck with 1000 ATK points in DEF position! I choose Elemental Hero Woodsman!" the wood-limbed warrior appeared (DEF: 2000). He took out his deck to shuffle it when the boat suddenly yanked against him, causing him to fall inside. The boat stopped and Jason saw his cards scattered all over.

"Oops! I must've stepped on the accelerator by mistake!" the Obelisk wearing glasses laughed with the others. Jason tried to get up but tripped as the boat was being pulled again before stopping. The Obelisks laughed even harder. "I'd better watch my step; how clumsy of me!"

"Cut it out!" Jason shouted.

"How about you try shuffling your deck like a human being instead of a monkey, and let's get on with the duel!" Chazz suggested. Jason got up and picked up his scattered cards, "Now, since you're lucky enough to put out some decent defense, I'll just end my turn for now."

"It's my turn now," Jason drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Hero Heat in ATK mode," the flame-fisted hero appeared, "And his ATK points increase by 200 for each Elemental Hero including himself (ATK: 1600-2000). Attack one of his weaker golems!" Heat smashed one of his fist into one of the golems.

**Chazz: 2000**

**Jason: 4000**

"Now you really done it!" Chazz smirked, "When a Mine Golem's destroyed in battle, you take 500 points of damage!"

Jason cringed under a brief red aura.

**Chazz: 2000**

**Jason: 3500**

"But your monster still loses ATK points!" Jason said, "Now that you have only two golems on th field, it loses 800 ATK points!"

Mine Golem: (ATK: 2600-1800)

"And that makes it weaker than mine! I'll end my turn with 1 card face-down!" a reverse-card appeared.

"And I'll make mine one you won't forget!" Chazz drew his next card, "I activate my face-down, the trap card Minefield Eruption! For each Mine Golem on my field that's about to be destroyed, guess who gets 1000 points of damage... YOU!" both golems exploded and forced the wooden boat back, making it hard for Jason to maintain his balance standing.

**Chazz: 2000**

**Jason: 1500**

"If you think that's painful, wait until you see Flame Ruler's special-ability!" Flame Ruler swung his arms and was surrounded by a twister made of fire, which grew in massive size, "You see, he counts as two monsters when he's sacrificed! And this next monster will be one to really turn up the heat!" the flames dispersed to reveal a very large monster. It bored massive muscles and had red skin with horns on its head. It's basically a giant red demon. Jason dropped to his seat on the boat as he watched the giant stare at him with its three crimson eyes (ATK: 3500), "Yeah, that's the same look of fear everyone else had when they go up against my (7) Ultimate Obedient Fiend(10/ATK: 3500/DEF: 3000)! The only downside of having this mighty beast is that I can't have it attack unless it's the only card I have out; that includes no cards in my hand either. But all that's about to change! I equip my fiend with the Axe of Fools spell card!" a giant silver axe with a goldenface medallion in the middle appeared in the field's right hand (ATK: 3500-4500), "Not only does it boosts my monster's ATK power by 1000, it also negates any and all special-abilities it happens to have! Now that his special-ability's no longer an issue, my Ultimate Obedient Fiend is free to attack! The bigger they are, the HARDER THEY HIT!"

The giant axe was brought down on Elemental Hero Heat and crashed into the lake. Jason had to duck into the boat as a large tidal wave barely missed him and pushed the boat farther across the lake. When everything calmed down he stood back us and Chazz's boat caught up to him.

**Chazz: 2000**

**Jason: 3500**

"You duel-disk's obviously broken," Chazz scoffed, "My last attack just brought you life-points straight to zero!"

"When you attacked I activated Enchanted Javelin," Jason revealed his trap card, "This increases my life-points by your monsters ATK points before I took and damage. So I still have some life-points left."

"you're just delaying your own defeat! I'll end my turn, but you'll go down soon enough; and your rarest card will be with me where it belongs."

"It's my turn!" Jason drew his next card and looked at it. "This could work..."

"Stop stalling and make your last move!" Chazz barked.

"I activate the magic card Polymerization! By sending Elemental Hero Heat and Elemental Hero Woodsman from my field to the graveyard, I can special-summon (8) Elemental Hero Gaia(6/ATK: 2200/DEF: 2600) from my fusion-deck!" Heat and Gaia were sucked into the green/orange portal before an even bigger warrior came out of it. He was covered over a suit of earthly-black armor embedded with small red gems. His wrist were mounted with giant gauntlets (ATK: 2200), "Now I activate my new monster's effect: as soon as he's summoned, I can select a monster on my field and then cut its ATK points in half!" Gaia slammed his fists into the water, which sent shards of rock out from under the fiend and damaging it.

Ultimate Obedient Fiend: (ATK: 2250)

"Fat good of luck that'll do ya'," Chazz laughed, "You went through all that trouble of lowering my monster's ATK points and yours is still 50 points short of being of any threat to my Obedient Fiend!"

"I'm not done yet! Not only does Gaia halves a monster's ATK points, it can increase its own ATK points by the same amount!"

"Wait! Would you mind repeating that?!" Chazz gasped.

Elemental Hero Gaia: (ATK: 4450)

"Elemental Hero Gaia, attack the Ultimate Obedient Fiend!" Gaia bounded up towards the giant and smashed his fists against it. The force they made formed the biggest tide so far. Soon his boat washed back up to shore.

**Chazz: 0**

**Jason: 3500**

Jason looked towards the source of the light and found he was near the Obelisk girl's dorm, "All of those tides must have lead us to the other side of the lake. I better get back." he got out of the boat and prepared to leave.

"You're not going anywhere!" Chazz jump out of the speedboat as soon as it reached shore with his two allies following, "You're gonna give me those cards, NOW!"

"I won the duel so I don't owe you anything," Jason said, "The loser has to forfeit their rarest card, that's what we agreed on!"

"Exactly! You're always gonna be a loser! So whatever cards you have are mine now! Boys, get 'im!" the two other Obelisks past by him ready to grab Jason.

"What's going on here?!" the Obelisk headmistress appeared and caught the boys, "What are you boys doing here, this late at night!"

"Ms. Fontaine! We just caught this Slifer sneaking around at the girl's territory!" Chazz lied, the other two Obelisks replied in agreement.

"No! That's not true!" Jason protested, "I was called to the lake by someone and found these guys here instead! I got the message right here!" he went over and gave Fontaine his PDA.

"Oh, please! You probably made that yourself as an excuse to come here!"

"That's unlikely, Chazz, considering this message was sent into Jason's Inbox with another student's number," Fontaine scowled as she read over the message, "Each student here is identified with a serial number, in case you haven't read the instructions. But regardless, that doesn't excuse any of you for breaking curfew, especially this late," the headmistress returned the PDA, "Now I want you to return to your dorm. I'll let your headmasters know about this and we'll deal with it in the morning."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Jason quickly replied and ran off to his dorm before he could get caught in anything else.

* * *

The moment he went back into his room he almost hit his head on one of the headboards when he stumbled into his bed. A few moments later he closed his eyes. It was a very taxing day for him and he just wanted some sleep...

* * *

**DUEL-MON DATABASE**

**(1) Familiar Knight  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 1200/DEF: 1400)**

**Attribute: DARK  
**

******Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: Each player can Special Summon 1 Level 4 monster from their hand.  
**

**(2) Big Shield Gardna  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 100/DEF: 2600)**

**Attribute: EARTH  
**

******Effect: During either player's turn, when this face-down card (and no other cards) is targeted by a Spell Card: Change this card to face-up Defense Position, and if you do, negate the Spell Card's activation. If this card is attacked, change it to Attack Position at the end of the Damage Step.  
**

**(3) Gilford the Lightning  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 2800/DEF: 1400)**

**Attribute: LIGHT  
**

******Effect: You can Tribute 3 monsters to Tribute Summon (but not Set) this card. If you do: Destroy all monsters your opponent controls.  
**

**(4) Phantom Magician  
**

**Stats: [Spellcaster/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 600/DEF: 700)**

**Attribute: DARK  
**

******Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "HERO" monster with 1000 or less ATK from your Deck in face-up Defense Position.  
**

**(5) Mine Golem  
**

**Stats: [Rock/Effect] LV: 3 (ATK: 1000/DEF: 1900)**

**Attribute: EARTH  
**

******Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, inflict 500 damage to your opponent.  
**

**(6) Flame Ruler  
**

**Stats: [Pyro/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1600)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

******Effect: This card can be treated as 2 Tributes for the Tribute Summon of a FIRE monster  
**

**(7) Ultimate Obedient Fiend  
**

**Stats: [Fiend/Effect] LV: 10 (ATK: 3500/DEF: 3000)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

******Effect: This card can only attack if this card is the only card on your side of the field and if you also have no cards in your hand. Negate the effects of Effect Monsters destroyed by this card.  
**

**(8) Elemental Hero Gaia  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Fusion/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2200/DEF: 2600)**

**Attribute: EARTH  
**

******Effect: 1 "Elemental HERO" monster + 1 EARTH monster  
Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card is Fusion Summoned: Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; until the End Phase, its ATK is halved and this card gains the same amount of ATK.**

* * *

**DUEL-MON TRIVIA**

**"Hey, Duelists! Did you know..."**

**"The Ultimate Obedient Fiend resembles the stereotypical classic depiction of Satan that is commonly seen in cartoons, artwork, or other works of fiction."**

* * *

******Please Read and Review.**


	4. Test Day

**Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi**

* * *

The first week at Duel Academy came and went. And like then he received the mail he's to deliver. Anais was true to her word, there were a lot more than he was given last time. After a long time of sorting them out he went out onto his route. Nothing went out of the ordinary until he made his way from the Ra dorm, where he heard a loud thud. Curious, he went further into the main dirt road to find a small van sitting there with a plump, middle-aged woman near it.

"Excuse me, miss, are you alright?" he asked as he approached.

"Oh! That was quick!" she replied, surprised, "Are you from the Auto Club?"

"Auto Club?" he repeated, confused, "I'm just delivering the mail when I heard your car. Is it broken?"

"Well, my van did decide to break down on me. I called the Auto Club a few moments ago, but who knows when they'll come."

"Well then, where are you heading? I'll help you push there until the Auto Club come around."

The lady brightened, "Oh, could you? That's very kind; thank you!"

Since then, Jason helped the lady across the road, until they reached a rising slope where it became more difficult pushing the van against it. A cloud of dust suddenly kicked up over them. Jason coughed trying to keep the dust out of his lungs.

"Never fear, Jaden's here!" the Slifer Red student announced, coming by to help push the van. "Hey, nice to see ya'!"

"Oh, thank you!" the lady groaned, "You must be from the auto club!"

"Don't let the red jacket fool you; I'm just your average good deed dude!" In saying this, he accidentally let go of the van, putting the weight back on Jason.

"Isn't that nice!"

"What would be 'nice' is if I pushed!" he met Jason at the back, "Hey, nice to see you again."

"Huh? Thank you!"

"Hey, it's my pleasure; now I can skip the gym!" Jaden laughed.

"You're such a sweet boy!" she grunted, "I'll remember this."

"How 'bout next time you just remember that extended warranty!" Jaden's help continued until they reached the end of the slope, where he bid farewell and ran off to class. Pretty soon they reached their destination.

"Thank you again, mister. Wait one moment..." she returned from her van to hand out a small foil packet, "A small token for your help."

"Thank you. I'm glad I can help," after receiving his gift he continued on his mail route.

* * *

After finally delivering the mail he went straight on to the lecture hall, where his dorm's headmaster, Mr. Lyman Banner was waiting for him. As they were told last week the school have a test that's paired with a field-test duel. And seeing as the room was now bare of students he decided to get on with his written test, which took an hour to complete. After that, he went to the gymnasium for his field-test, just in time for his name to come up on the intercom to be relocated to the school's main arena. As he wonder why, he made to the arena where school's faculty were seated on the front lines, though there are very few present. When he mounted the stage he gasped when he saw Chazz and the two Obelisk Blue students from last night.

_"May I have your attention, please!"_ Anais called out over the P.A., _"The match that is about to begin has taken place because of disciplinary issues. As of last week, these four students have broken curfew and now must pay the penalty,"_ that happened a week ago, yet Jason wondered why they were doing something about that now, _"So by recent order of faculty, we have arrange a match to determine the actions needed to be taken. As a one-on-one duel, each student must take their position and begin when ready."_

"This can't be good..." Jason muttered under his breath.

"Are you ready, Slifer?!" Chazz sneered, "It's you paid back for that embarrassment you caused me! Man, I've been waiting a long time to say: Raizou! Torimaki! School this fool!" on command the two Obelisks stepped in while Chazz jumped off the platform.

Raizou, the one one with brown hair, was the first to take position, "Time to teach you who's boss, slacker!" both activated their duel-disks.

**Jason: 4000**

**Raizou: 4000**

"I'm making the first move!" Raizou drew his sixth card, "I activate the spell card Cost Down! By sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I can downgrade the levels of all the monsters in my hand by 2! So now it's easier to summon this guy, Neo Aqua Madoor (6/ATK: 1200/DEF: 3000) in DEF mode!" a masked wizard in a teak cloak appeared knelt on the field (DEF: 3000), "Next I activate the spell card Monster Reborn to bring back the monster I just tossed out! The Statue of Easter Island (4/ATK: 1100/DEF: 1400), come on out to the field in DEF mode!" a large Easter Island statue rose up next to the wizard (DEF: 1400), "Finally I place 2 card face-down!" Raizou sneered at his two reverse-cards, 'Go ahead and take the bait! No matter what monster you pull out, I'll just use Call of the Earthbound to redirect your attack to Aqua Madoor! And with Cross Counter, not only will your weaker monster be destroyed, but you'll take twice as much battle-damage! There's no way you'll get at my life-points!'

"It's my turn," Jason drew his sixth card, "I activate the magic card Polymerization! With this, I can fuse the Elemental Heroes Ocean and Knospe to fusion-summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!" the two heroes merged into the ice-based superhero (ATK: 2500), "Next, I activate the quick-play magic card, De-Fusion! This card returns a fusion monster from my field and replaces them with the monsters I used in its fusion from the graveyard!" Absolute Zero separated into Ocean (ATK: 1500) and Knospe (ATK: 600).

"You should spend more time in class!" Raizou laughed, "You just summoned a stronger monster just to sacrifice him for 2 weaker ones!"

"You idiot!" Chazz snapped, "You're forgetting about Absolute Zero's ability!"

"Huh?!"

"When Absolute Zero leaves the field, every monster on your side of the field is destroyed!" Jason said as both of Raizou's monsters shattered under ice.

"My monsters!" Raizou cried.

"Now I summon Elemental Hero Heat in ATK mode!" the fire-wielding hero appeared, "And he gains 200 ATK points for each hero on my field (ATK: 2200)! Now all my monsters will attack!" all three heroes rushed in towards Raizou.

**Jason: 4000**

**Raizou: 0**

The audience began muttering to each other in amazement as they watched Raizou's life-points dropped to zero. It was like they never seen anything like it.

"How could you be so careless, Raizou!" Chazz shouted.

"B-but it's not my fault!" Raizou stammered.

"Step aside and let me show you how it's done!" Torimaki took Raizou's place and activated his duel-disk, "You got us in a lot of trouble! Time for you to pay for it!"

**Jason: 4000**

**Torimaki: 4000**

"I'll take the first move!" Torimaki drew his sixth card, "I summon the (1) Lord on D.(4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1100) onto the field!" a wizard in dragon-like armor and a blue cape appeared (DEF: 1100), "Next I activate the spell card, Flute of Summoning Dragon!" Lord of D. was given a dragon-shaped horn and blew from it, "While I have Lord of D. on the field, I can special-summon 2 dragon-type monsters from my hand! So now I call forth (2) Tyrant Dragon(8/ATK: 2900/DEF: 2800), and (3) Prime Material Dragon (6/ATK: 2400/DEF: 2000)!" a large crimson dragon with a crimson jewel on his forehead (ATK: 2900), and a solid gold six-winged dragon (ATK: 2400) appeared, "With that, I place 1 card face-down and end my turn!"

"It's my turn!" Jason drew his next card, "I activate the spell card Polymerization! By fusing Elemental Heroes Woodsman and Lady Heat from my hand, I fusion-summon Elemental Hero Gaia!" two more heroes merged into the black-armored earth-based hero (ATK: 2200), "And once he's summoned, I can cut the ATK points of another monster in half and give Gaia the same amount!" Gaia smashed his hands into the ground and encased Tyrant Dragon inside a prison of stone columns. But Lord of D. deflected it with a barrier by a tune from his horn.

"Did you think I wouldn't see that coming?!" Torimaki scoffed, "My Lord of D. protects all of my dragon-type monsters from targeting card-effects! Your Gaia's special-ability just backfired!"

"Then I summon (17) Elemental Hero Ocean(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200)!" an armored merman-like warrior appeared, who had a large, long fin erected on his head, and wielded a crescent-bladed lance (ATK: 1500), "I place 2 card face-downs and end my turn."

"It's my turn!" Torimaki drew his next card, "If you think that trap of your is gonna help you, think again! As long as Prime-Material Dragon's on my field, I can negate and destroy any card-effects my sending 1 card from my hand to the graveyard! Now, I sacrifice my Lord of D. to summon Luster Dragon #2 (6/ATK: 2400/DEF: 1400)!" the draconic wizard was replaced my a large emerald-scaled dragon (ATK: 2400), "Now you have 3 powerful dragons ready to burn away your life-points! First, my Tyrant Dragon is gonna attack your Elemental Hero Ocean!" Tyrant Dragon spewed out a powerful stream of flame.

"I activate my trap card, Covering Fire!" Jason's reverse-card opened, "When a monster on my side of the field is attacked, he gains ATK points equal to that of another on my field! So Elemental Hero Ocean gains Gaia's 2200 ATK points (ATK: 3700)!" Ocean leap away from the dragon's flame and slayed it with a strike from its staff.

**Jason: 4000**

**Torimaki: 3200**

"Doesn't matter! I still have 2 more dragons out and both are stronger than your monsters! Prime Material Dragon, attack!" Prime Material fired a stream of golden flame flame at Ocean.

"I activate the trap card, Magical Arm Shield!" Jason's second card opened. "When I have a monster on your field when you attack, I can target another monster on your field and use it as the target of your attack!" a pair of clamps extended from a white shield and reached out towards Luster Dragon.

"I activate The Dragon's Bead continuous-trap!" a jade gem grew on Luster Dragon's forehead and flashed. The dragon fired a stream of emerald flame that scorched the Magical Arm Shield, "By sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I can negate the targeting effect of any trap card and destroy it!" Prime Material Dragon continued its attack and destroyed Ocean.

**Jason: 3100**

**Torimaki: 3200**

"Now my Luster Dragon will attack Elemental Hero Gaia!" Gaia was destroyed by Luster Dragon's emerald flame.

**Jason: 2900**

**Torimaki: 3200**

"See? No Slifer's gonna get the best of me! And to top it off, I activate the spell card, Dragon's Gunfire! This give a dragon-type monster on my field the ability to inflict 800 points of damage! Luster Dragon, attack!" Luster Dragon blasted Jason with a ball of fire, "I end my turn!"

**Jason: 2100**

**Torimaki: 3200**

"My turn..." Jason drew his next card, "I set 1 monster in DEF mode and end my turn!"

"It's my turn!" Torimaki drew his next card, "Luster Dragon, attack his face-down card!" Luster Dragon fired away and destroyed Jason's monster, which was Phantom Magician.

"When Phantom Magician is destroyed in battle, I can summon an elemental Hero with 1000 or less ATK points from my deck in DEF mode! I choose Knospe!" the flowerbud hero appeared (DEF: 1000).

"That monster's next! Attack!" Prime Material Dragon attacked and destroyed Knospe, "Now I activate the spell card, Spellbook inside the Pot! This lets both of us draw 3 cards from our decks! But no card you draw is gonna be useful against what I got!" both players drew three cards, "This'll give me something for Prime Material's effect. I'll end my turn!"

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate the spell card Fusion Recovery! This allows me to ad a Polymerization card and a monster card from my graveyard to my hand!" he added two cards back into his hand, "Now I activate Polymerization to fuse together Ocean and Heat and summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!" the frigid hero returned (ATK: 2500). "Absolute Zero, attack Prime Material Dragon!" Absolute Zero landed a punch on Prime Material Dragon.

**Jason: 2100**

**Torimaki: 3100**

"Now I activate De-Fusion to separate Absolute Zero!" Absolute Zero split back into Heat (ATK: 2000) and Ocean (ATK: 1500), "And when Absolute Zero leaves the field, your monsters are destroyed!" Luster Dragon froze and shattered.

"No! Not this again!"

"Elemental Heroes Heat and Ocean, attack!" Torimaki was knocked back by a combined attack of fire and water.

**Jason: 2100**

**Torimaki: 0**

The teachers once again clamored at the outcome of the second duel. It was as interesting to watch as the first one.

"I had enough! Move!" Chazz climbed up the platform and stomped past Raizou and Torimaki, "You've embarrassed us Obelisks for the last time!" he activated his duel-disk, "Time to put you down for good!"

"Hold it!" everyone turned to see Crowler walking towards the arena, "I know we're in the middle of a duel, but I think a change of scenery is in order!"

* * *

That change happened to be the academy gymnasium. He stood on a much bigger platform on one of the six smaller arenas, in an auditorium seated by many students. Standing beside Chazz was a well-equipped Crowler. And standing beside Jason was another Slifer.

"I'm dueling an _Obelisk_?" Jaden gasped, "And it's _Chazz_?"

That's right, Jaden," Crowler said, "since you always talk such a big game, I pulled some strings for you so you got the challenge you deserved! So you'll be dueling one of the top-ranked students in the school. And this won't be any ordinary contest; you and Jason will be tested the same way you passed your entrance exam; two separate duel's sharing one duel-field. The only difference is, Chazz will be your opponent. And since this is a field test, since you'll be up against a big-time duelist it's going to determine big-time points!" even though it's his first time, Jason knew these are unusual circumstances. But what's so special about it?

"I've got a ba-a-ad feeling about this." Syrus thought.

'This is clearly a trap.' Bastion thought as well, 'only a cavalier fool would agree to it.' but gasped when Jaden gave his answer.

"I'll do it!" Jaden declared and readied his duel-disk, "All right Chazz, get your game on! Let's finish what we started at Obelisk Arena!"

"And what about you, Jason? Are you up for the challenge?" Crowler asked, although he already knew the answer, "I know you're nervous, young man, but how about this..." he pulled out his legendary card and showed it to Jason, "I won't use my Ancient Gear Golem in this duel, so you'll have somewhat of a sporting chance." Jason cursed under his breath. Does Crowler underestimate Slifer Red that much? Without saying a word, he slotted his deck into his duel-disk, "Straight to the point, I see. That's fine by me!" Crowler turned on his custom-made duel-disk and drew his hand with Jason, "Let's duel!"

**Crowler: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jaden: 4000**

"Bring it, Slifer slacker!" Chazz dared.

"Oh, it is brought!" Jason said, drawing his sixth card, "You remember this guy, don'tcha, Chazz? From our first match? Elemental Hero Clayman!" the colossal clay warrior knelt to the floor (DEF: 2000), "He'd like to get reacquainted."

"Not after he sees what _I_ got for 'im!" Chazz chuckled ,"Don't think for a second that oversized pile of pebbles has a chance against me, Jaden! Or against this!", he drew his next card, "Fresh off the presses! Meet Magical Mallet!"

"What's that?"

"A redo. All the cards in my hand that I don't want, I put back in my deck. Then I shuffle and re-draw," Chazz proceeded and redrew his hand,  
"Now I get to pick whichever cards I want. Pretty cool, don'tcha think? And I haven't gotten to the best part! See, Jaden? I got to reshuffle Magical Mallet, too; so if I draw it again which I just did, I can play it again an' again," Chazz repeated the process, "And that comes in handy, when I'm looking for _this_: (4) V-Tiger Jet(4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1800)! Sharpen your claws for ATK mode!" a large yellow fighter-jet appeared in the form of a crouched tiger with green wings on its sides. Unfolding itslef it landed on the field (ATK: 1600), "And there's a lot more where that came from! Check out the magic of Frontline Base continuous-spell! It lets me summon another level-4-or-below monster this turn. And I have just the one; I play (5) W-Wing Catapult(4/ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500), in ATK mode!" a blue jet platform appeared next to the tiger jet (ATK: 1300), "Gentlemen start your engines!" W-Wing Catapult revs up its jet engines and soared into the air, "Now, merge!" V-Tiger Jet fired its engines and hovered straight up. In midair, the two machines stacked together to form a single, larger unit, "All right! The (6) VW-Tiger Catapult(6/ATK: 2000/DEF: 2100)! But wait, I'm not done _yet_, 'cause he still has his special-ability!"

"That's not good." Jaden groaned.

"By sending a card to the graveyard, I can force one of _your_ monsters into ATK mode!" Clayman stood up from his guard (ATK: 800), "So now, after this heat-seeker blitz from my Tiger Catapult, your life-points are toast!" Jaden braced himself as his monster was bombarded by a series of exploding missiles.

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jaden: 2800**

"I'll finish up with 1 card face-down." A reverse-card appeared.

"Yeah, go ahead and finish up. 'Cause I'm just gettin' _warmed_ up."

"How about you wait your turn; because it's mine to go," Crowler said and drew his next card, "I'll start by summoning (12) Red Gadget(3/ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500) in DEF position, "a red-and-silver robot appeared with a large gear attached to its back, "And when this little guy is brought out to the field, I can add a Yellow Gadget from my deck to my hand," Crowler added another card to his hand, "Now I place two card face-down and end my turn." two reverse-cards appeared.

'I've been hearing rumors of Jason winning against one of the academy's teacher's,' Chakra thought as she kept her eyes on the duel, 'Now I just have to see if it's fact...'

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I set a monster face-down and end my turn."

"Alright, my turn," Jaden drew his next card, "And I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman! In DEF mode!" the crowd reacted as the lightning-wielding hero settle in DEF position (DEF: 1400), "And, I'll throw down a face-down!" Jaden concluded.

"Ready for round, two, you Slifer slime?" Chazz taunted as he drew his next card, "Well (7) X-Head Cannon (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1500) is! And, thanks to Frontline's magic, so is (9) Z-Metal Tank(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1300)!" a yellow-plated robot with shoulder-mounted lasers appeared supported on a floating metal ball (ATK: 1800), along with a yellow crab-like tank (ATK: 1500), "Now I play, my face-down card! Call of the Haunted!" Chazz's reverse-card rose, "In case you slept through _that_ class as well, it allows me to bring back a monster from my graveyard, and I choose..." a red dragon-based mecha rose to the field, "That's right: (8) Y-Dragon Head(4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1500)! It's what I discarded with my Catapult's special-ability! And now I combine them all to create, (10) XYZ-Dragon Cannon(7/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2600)!" the three monsters stacked together, X on top of Y and Y on top of Z (ATK: 2800), "But wait, Jaden; there's more! Actually, _less_. Sure, they say two's better than one, but I have to disagree..." both of his monsters soared into the air and started recombining themselves, "Especially when the one in question is the ultimate, (11) VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon(8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2800)!" the collection of machines landed as a giant robot, with V's claws, standing on W's parts as its legs, X connected as its torso with the tiger's head as its helmet, Y's wings on its back and Z's parts hanging from the yellow robot's hands as its arms (ATK: 3000), "Makes your Spark'man' look like a heap of spark _plugs_, huh," Sparkman then evaporates from the field, on the spot, "Or at least it _did_."

"My Sparkman...!" Jaden gasped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't I mention V-to-Z's special-ability?" Chazz chuckled, "He allows me to remove one card on your side of the field once per turn. And if ya think *that's* impressive, just wait'll you see his attack. An attack that will strike your life-points directly!"

"Don't think so, Chazz, I have a trap!" Jaden's reverse-card rose, "A Hero Emerges!"

"Blast it!" Crowler cursed.

"A Hero _what_?!" Chazz gasped.

"Emerges. As in _emerges_ onto the field! 'Cause now you have to randomly choose a card from my hand and if it's a monster, I get to play it! So take your pick, Chazz."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. The far right."

"Sweet! Elemental Hero Burstinatrix! I'll play her in DEF mode." Jaden's fiery heroine appeared (DEF: 800).

"That's what you think, you Slifer Slacker! When Dragon Catapult Cannon attacks, _I_ get to choose your monster's mode! And ya know what? I choose ATK mode, which means not only will she be zapped-," Dragon Catapult Cannon charged up as Burstinatrix stood and took the full force of the blast. "But your life-points will, too!"

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jaden: 1000**

"Aw, what's the matter, Jaden? Having some test anxiety? Don't worry; it'll be over soon."

"No way, Chazz, I got a whole army of vicious monsters in my deck just waitin' to get at you! This isn't over; it's just barely starting!"

"We'll see..."

"Of course you'll have to wait; because now, it's my turn," Crowler drew his next card, "I summon (13) Yellow Gadget(3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1200) in ATK mode!" a yellow robot appeared with gear halves on both sides of this body and another on its back (ATK: 1200), "And when Yellow Gadget is summoned, I can add a Green Gadget to my hand!" Crowler added yet another card to his hand, "Next, I activate one of my face-down cards, the continuous-trap, Ultimate Offering!" one of his reverse-cards opened, "For a small price of 500 life-points, I can summon an extra monster from my hand. And with it's effect, I sacrifice my Yellow Gadget to summon the (15) Ancient Gear Gadgjiltron Chimera (6/ATK: 2300/DEF: 1300)!" after the yellow machine vanished a giant creature rose to the field, bent down and supported by its forearms. It was made of clusters of rusted metal parts. It had three heads whose shapes were either humanoid, bird-like or bestial.

**Crowler: 3500**

**Jason: 4000**

"Another Ancient Gear monster..." Jason gasped, "There's more of them?"

"And now for Yellow Gadget to wind it up a bit!" Yellow Gadget returned and attached itself onto the large gap in-between the chimera's heads. The gears inside started to turn and the machine came to life roaring. Even the cobra-shaped tip of its tail rose up with a hiss,"And, by paying 500 life-points, I can summon Boot-Up Soldier-Dread Dynamo(4/ATK: 0/DEF: 2000) from my hand this turn," a bronze-collared robot appeared, smaller than Chimera, yet larger than Red Gadget (ATK: 0), "Sure, he has zero ATK points now, but as soon as I connect it with Red Gadget, all that will change soon enough. For you see, when I control a face-up Gadget monster while my Boot-Up Soldier is in play, it gains 2000 ATK points!" Red Gadget backed itself into the large gap in the larger robot. As it turned its back gear Dread Dynamo came to life (ATK: 2000).

**Crowler: 3000**

**Jason: 4000**

"Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera, attack his face-down card!" the chimera raised its arm and stretched it across the field, landing it on Jason's set monster and crushed it. Jason raised his arms against the dust cloud it created.

"The monster you destroyed was Phantom Magician!" Jason said, so now I can special-summon a Hero monster from my deck with 1000-or-less ATK points! And the monster I choose is Elemental Hero Woodsman!" the wood-based hero appeared (DEF: 2000) as Jason reshuffled his deck. 'At least I have something to protect me with. And since that Boot-Up Soldier has 2000 ATK points...

"You may have saved yourself from Dread Dynamo's attack," Crowler said, "But your life-points are far from safe! Or did it not occur to you that my Chimera also has a special-ability! And since I summoned it using Yellow Gadget as a sacrifice, whenever it successfully destroys a monster, it can inflict 700 points of direct damage!" the bird-like head charged up its beak and blasted Jason with a beam of golden energy.

**Crowler: 3000**

**Jason: 3300**

"See? Your life-points aren't safe whether you monsters are in ATK or DEF position. I'll end my turn for now."

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "And I activate the effect of my Elemental Hero Woodsman! Now I can add a Polymerization magic card from my deck," Jason searched until he found the card he was looking for. He could hear the crowd already fussing over how he's been shuffling his deck, "Now... I activate the magic card Polymerization! By fusing Elemental Heroes Lady Heat and Knospe, I can summon (19) Elemental Hero Nova Master(8/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2100)!" the two monsters combined and formed a column of fire burst from the field in which another hero came out, wearing red flared armor with a cape and helmeted mask (ATK: 2600), "Elemental Hero Nova Master, attack that Ancient Gear Chimera!" Nova Master rose to the sky and raised his arm over his head, where a large ball of fire formed in his hand. The warrior threw it down towards the chimera, where the monster was crushed underneath before exploding.

**Crowler: 2700**

**Jason: 3300**

"No harm done," Crowler said nonchalant, "I hardly lost any life-points. But just in case, I'll activate the continuous-trap, Stronghold The Moving Fortress!" as Crowler;s reverse-card opened, a large man-like structure of metal rose to the field. And like most of his monsters, it had three gap[s together on its chest fit for gears (DEF: 2000), "Although it's activated as a trap card, Stronghold is now treated as an earth-attribute machine-type monster with zero ATK points, and 2000 DEF points. This should help defend my life-points from any more harm."

"When Nova Master destroys a monster in battle, I can draw a card from my deck!" Jason the drew one card, "Now I place 1 card face-down and end my turn." a reverse-card appeared.

"Alright, my turn!" Jaden drew his next card, "...And I summon Winged Kuriboh in DEF mode!" the small, brown-furred fairy appeared (DEF: 200), and the majority of the audience squealed at the sight of the bright-eyed little fuzzball, "And I'll throw down a face-down, too," a reverse-card appeared, "That's it."

"All done, huh? Good, 'cause now I can cook that Kuriboh and I like mine well-done!" Chazz drew his next card, "There's about to be a fried furball on the field, ya loser!"

"You don't scare me!" Jaden argued.

"No big deal, I don't have to. That's his job," Chazz pointed at the giant robot, "Dragon Catapult Cannon, attack!" All cannons fired on Winged Kuriboh.

Right before the attack connected, Jaden slated the cards in his hand to the graveyard, "I sacrifice two cards and activate Transcendent Wings!"a quick-play spell card rose up.

"Where did he get that?!" Crowler shrieked.

Winged Kuriboh's wings the grew, its wingspan now exceeding the width of the arena. Dragon Catapult Cannon's attack hits, and got refracted, Winged Kuriboh somehow dispersing the attack to either side of him and Jaden.

"It can't be!" Chazz gasped.

"Oh, it 'be'. Transcendent Wings has evolved Winged Kuriboh into (21) Winged Kuriboh LV 10(10/ATK: 300/DEF: 200)!" Through the light, Winged Kuriboh received a dragon-shaped golden headdress of some sort, "And it gets better, too. By sacrificing _himself_, Kuriboh destroys all monsters in ATK mode, and deflects their ATK points back as damage to _you_! Kuriboh, why don'tcha go ahead n' show 'im how it works!" a ball of sparking light sat on Jaden's side of the field. An echoing Kuriboh coo can be heard at the center of the explosion, then the ball of light exploded outward, striking Dragon Catapult Cannon and obliterating it.

**Chazz: 1000**

**Jaden: 1000**

"Lucky punk!" Chazz growled.

"Lucky? Nah, I just happen to have a soft spot for old ladies. But not for you, Chazz. An' that's too bad, 'cause with 1000 life-points apiece, all I need is the right monster and you'll be finished!"

"I end my turn!"

"Which means it's my turn, once again," Crowler, recently calmed down, drew his next card, "I summon (14) Green Gadget(4/ATK: 1400/DEF: 600)!" the third gadget was a green lower body turning its gear under its upper body (ATK: 1400), "And once he's summoned, I can add a Red Gadget from my deck," he added another card to my hand, "Next I activate the spell Monster Reborn to revive my Yellow Gadget from my graveyard," the yellow machine returned, "And as you already know, it allows me to add a Green Gadget to my hand," he added another card from his deck, "And now I switch my Moving Fortress to ATK mode!"

"But why ATK mode?" Jason wondered, "Doesn't it have 0 ATK points!"

"Normally, yes. But then I have Red Gadget, Yellow Gadget and Green Gadget together on the field, my Stronghold gains 3000 ATK points!" Red Gadget left Dread Dynamo and joined its brethren, attaching themselves to the gaps of Stronghold. The gears inside turned as the iron giant rose to its feet (ATK: 3000), "But he won't be the only one powering up. Next I activate an equip-spell card called Machine Conversion Factory. This can raises the ATK and DEf of any machine-type monster by 300. And I'll be adding these points onto Dread Dynamo," the bronze machine glowed with energy (ATK: 2300/DEF: 2300), "Now, my Dread Dynamo, attack and destroy his Woodsman!" Red Gadget detached itself from Stronghold and reattached itself onto Dread Dynamo. The Boot-Up Soldier ran towards the defending monster, and brought its arms down on him, destroying Woodsman, "And now for that Nova Master! Red Gadget, return to Stronghold and attack!" Red Gadget reattached itself back to Stronghold, so the giant could slam its fist at Nova Master.

"I activate my trap card, Kunai with Chain!" Nova Master's right wrist was then covered in a rope of chains, along with a three-pointed blade attached at the end, "I can attach this card onto Nova Master, giving him 500 ATK points! Nova Master, counterattack!" Nova Master engulfed the blade with flames and swung it against the chain. He then swung it down across Stronghold, the giant splitting in tow before it exploded, throwing the three gadgets down to the ground, "And I get to draw 1 card due to Nova Master's effect!"

**Crowler: 2600**

**Jason: 3300**

"Fine then. I switch all my monsters to DEF mode and then end my turn with a face-down." all four of Crowler's monsters, including Red Gadget Attached to Boot-Up Soldier, stood guard.

Red Gadget: (DEF: 1500)

Yellow Gadget: (DEF: 1200)

Green Gadget: (DEF: 600)

Boot-Up Soldier-Dread Dynamo: (DEF: 2000)

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate the spell card, Hero's Bond! While there's an Elemental Hero on my field, I can summon 2 more from my hand! So I summon Elemental Heroes Heat and Ocean!" the flame-wielding hero (ATK: 1600) and the merman hero (ATK: 1500) appeared, "And since there are 3 heroes on my field, Heat gets 600 ATK points (ATK: 2200), "Elemental Hero Ocean, attack Yellow Gadget!"

"I think not. I activate the trap, No Entry!" as Crowler's reverse card opened, all of Jason's monsters dropped to DEF mode, "Once this cards activates, all monsters that are in ATK position are forced into DEF position!"

"Then I place 1 card face-down and end my turn!" a reverse-card appeared.

"Okay, my turn! Here goes something!" Jaden looked at the card he drew and held it up, "Yeah! Elemental Hero Avian!" Both Chazz and Crowler gasped as he summoned the emerald-feathered superhero (ATK: 1000), "Now attack with Featherbreak!" and then . Chazz watched as Avian rose up, unable to do a thing. Numb with shock, he took the rain of razor feathers then fell to his knees, teeth clenched in bitter defeat.

**Chazz: 0**

**Jaden: 1000**

The moment Chazz's life-points ran out, the crowd cheered for Jaden's victory.

"Impossible!" Crowler cried, "I can't believe he beat Chazz!" his expression then turned to that of disgust and whipped away, "How pathetic. And I even gave him all those rare cards!"

Chazz turned to Crowler, pleading, "Dr. Crowler! Give me another chance!"

But Crowler ignored him, "Huh? Did someone say something? I thought I heard a flea."

"Dr. Crowler!"

After waving to the crowd, Jaden gave Chazz his customary salute and winked, "That's game! Unless you wanna duel again?"

A bitter and angry Chazz glared venomously at Jaden as he stood, "Oh, we _will_!" he growled as he stormed off.

"If we're quite done here...!" Crowler interrupted, "I would like to finish this duel sometime today! So if you don't mind..." he then drew his next card, looking at it, he grinned widely, "I think this is card I need to achieve my victory! I activate the normal-spell card, (5D's) Deluxe Limiter Removal! Allow me to demonstrate what this card does: by paying 1000 life-points, I can summon a level-6-or-higher machine type monster from my hand with one extra sacrifice! Of course, I cannot special-summon this turn, but it does give the monster 1000 extra ATK points for this turn!" the three gadgets vanished, "I sacrifice my three gadgets to summon the all-powerful, almighty, (16) Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon(ATK: 3000/DEF: 2000)!" a more colossal cluster of scrap-metal rose to the field in a burst of wind in the formed of a winged dragon. The three gadgets reappeared and attached themselves on the spaces braced around the dragon's craned neck. Gears turning, the dragon craned its elongated neck and roared (ATK: 3000-4000).

"4000 ATK points?!" Syrus gasped.

"Incredible!" Bastion added.

"I knew Crowler got something like that stashed somewhere in his deck..." Chakra muttered, "We just got our wake-up call!"

"And like its predecessor, my Ancient Gear Gadjiltron dragon holds three special-abilities, each one functioned by a gadget I sacrificed. From a Green Gadget, whenever my dragon battles a weaker monster in DEF position, the difference is dealt to the opposing player as damage. When a Yellow Gadget is used, whenever it destroys a monster, it can inflict 600 points as damage to that monster's owner. Lastly, when my Red Gadget is used in its gearwork, when it inflicts battle-damage, it can inflict 400 additional points of damage! And in addition to my dragon's own custom-made ability, you can't activate any spell or trap cards while he attacks!"

"With DX Limiter Removal, he can utilize all three of his dragon's effects without worrying which gadgets to sacrifice for it. And if he decides to attack one of his weaker monsters that are in DEF mode," Chakra lowered his eyes from the scene, sucking her teeth, "He doesn't stand a chance."

"Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon, attack Elemental Hero Heat with Steampunk Shockwave!" Crowler cackled as the three gadgets ground the dragon's gears much faster than they were. The continuous friction was gathered and spat from the dragon's mouth in a stream of fiery energy. It tore a trench through the field as the destructive blast reach Jason's field, resulting in a massive explosion. Crowler stood proudly over the pluming smoke, "Hmph. Well now, that was somewhat _entertaining_. But I guess you're not so special after all. Nevertheless I should give you a grad on this. I believe a solid '40' would suffi-" but as he could see clearly through the dissipating dust, Jason's field was still active, save for Elemental Hero Heat.

**Crowler: 2600**

**Jason: 1500**

"WHAT?!" Crowler screeched, "How could you have life-points left?! You couldn't possible have played any trap cards!" he then heard the sound of clanking metal. He he looked towards his dragon, it suddenly lost balance and collapsed on itself. Something then seeped out of the dragon in the form of a small, clown-like spirit wearing red robes and a green scarf, with a menacing grin stretched across its face, "What _is_ that?!"

"What you're looking at is my trap card!" Jason said as his revealed his opened reverse-card, "Reverse-Trap!"

"A trap?! You can't play that! My dragon's special-ability prevents it!"

"Only when it battles; you said so yourself! That's why I decided to go ahead and activate it before your dragon was even summoned!"

Crowler growled, "That trap card; how did you still have life-points left? What did it do to my dragon?!"

"I thought since you got a degree on dueling you'd know well what it does," Jason tried to joke, "It was here ever since the game was first made. But since you didn't, I guess I'll have to explain: Reverse Trap summons a spirit made to reverse increases and decreases made to a monster's ATK and DEF points. So after activating your Deluxe Limiter Removal, I played my Reverse Trap and its spirit lingered on the field until you summoned your Gadjiltron Dragon, _outside_ the battle-phase so it can got to work on it! Now instead of gaining ATK points, your dragon _lost_ ATK points!"

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon: (ATK: 2000)

"Don't think this duel is over, Slifer! I activate the spell card Swords of Revealing Light!" a series of large giant swords rained down around Jason's monsters, forming a barrier, "Now you can't attack for the next three turns! In the meantime I'll wait until my next turn to wipe out the rest of your life-points!" Crowler grinned, "You have one more chance to stop my monster before my monster destroys you! All you have to do is free your monsters from my swords!"

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon: (ATK: 3000)

"It's my turn!" Jason drew his next card, "I activate the effect of my Elemental Hero Ocean! Now I can add a hero from my graveyard to my hand!" Jason added his Knospe to his hand, "Next I summon (18) Elemental Hero Stratos(4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 300)!" a new masked hero appeared wearing tights and armor in different shades of blue and green. It hovered closely on the field with a set of rotors attached to a pair of wings (ATK: 1800), "And it comes with a special-ability: when summoned, I can destroy a number of magic and trap cards for each other hero on my field! And I have only one in mind..." Stratos' spinning rotors launched a pair of miniature tornadoes that slammed into the barrier of swords. The swords endured until they suddenly shattered and crumbled into particles of light, "Finally, I activate the card I just drew: the field-magic, Fusion Gate!" as Jason placed the card inside a hidden compartment at the edge of his card tray, the entire field became a grid of light-green energy, "As I just found out today, there are more way to summon a fusion-monster than Polymerization! With Fusion Gate on the field, I can fuse monsters by removing them from the game! And the ones I fuse are Stratos from my field and Knospe from my hand!" the field in the center warped into a wormhole. Knospe appeared and joined Stratos in jumping inside, where the vortex suddenly burst out a maelstrom, "Now I summon the (20) Elemental Hero Great Tornado(8/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2200)!" the tornado dispersed, revealing another hero. The wind picked up against its tattered cloak, revealing a suit of black, orange and green armor, it's silver shoulder-pads modeled after large fans (ATK: 2800).

"So what!" Crowler scoffed, "Even if you manage to destroy my dragon and soldier this turn, you'll only be able to inflict 1500 points of damage with your Elemental Hero Ocean!"

"I activate Great Tornado's effect! Now the ATK and DEF of all your monsters are halved!" a pair of twisters blasted from Great Tornado's shoulder-pads and crashed into Crowler's monsters.

Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon: (ATK: 1500)

Boot-Up Soldier-Dread Dynamo: (DEF: 1150)

"No!"

"Elemental Hero Ocean, attack Dread Dynamo!" Ocean sliced down the Boot-Up Soldier, "Nova Master, destroy the Gadjiltron Dragon!" Nova Master struck down the dragon with his blade, causing the dragon to explode.

**Crowler: 1000**

**Jason: 1500**

"Finally, Great Tornado! Attack Crowler's life-points directly!" Great Tornado launched on last twin tornado that slammed into Crowler, sending him flying across the field. The teacher landed flat on his back.

**Crowler: 0**

**Jason: 1500**

At that instant, the crowd roared in another amazing victory. Jason stood dumbfolded. He never once imagined he would be cheered at by a massive audience. He walked to Crowler, who was still laid out on his back. When he was sure he was awake, Jason held out his hand for him, "Umm... Good game!"

Crowler then suddenly swatted his hand away, glaring at him, "I don't need your help!" the doctor stood up, facing away from Jason, "I just got careless, is all! I could have won if I had my Ancient Gear Golem! You're still an inexperienced Slifer Deadbeat like all the others...!" Crowler ran off. Jason could've sworn he heard him crying...

_"That was well played, duelists of Slifer Red,"_ Jason looked up to the top box where principal Sheppard spoke through the loudspeaker, _"Not in the history of our revered Academy has a Slifer ever dueled an Obelisk or Faculty during these exams. Not only did you hold your own, but, you won! Your courage against overwhelming odds is... inspiring. It is with great pride that I grant you both promotion to Ra Yellow! Good job!"_

Jason gasped at that. He's getting promoted?! Many emotions ran through his mind. The one on general, anxiety. Is he actually ready for Ra Yellow...?

* * *

Jason leaned against the railing outside the Slifer dorm, still weighing out the pros and cons on the offer he was given earlier. If he agreed, he could get a bigger room and maybe some roommates. He heard they have much better food there. No more skimping out on sardines and sandwiches. And more importantly, he won't be picked on by Obelisk Blues for being a Slifer Red. On the other hand...

"Jason Hutchins," Jason turned to see Anais walking towards him, "I've been meaning to talk to you. First of all, I'd like you to explain why none of the Obelisk Blues received their mail before they went to class today!"

"I'm sorry for that," Jason said, "I was helping someone move a wagon up the hill to the building this morning..."

"That wasn't part of your job!" Anais snapped, "If someone needed help you should call someone and went on with the job you're assigned to! Remember, I'm the one who allowed you to stay in this school; so I'll be the one to put you out if I have to," Anais's voice seemed to grow louder as she became more angered; and her extensions looked to droop down against her head like a dog's ears would, "And another thing, if I _ever_ find out you've been skipping curfew, or lurking around the Obelisk Girl's dorm without permission, no matter what reason you have, you _will_ be certain that you will be on the next boat out of here!" catching her breath, Anais turned and walked away.

"Wait," Jason said, stopping Anais, "Abut that promotion-"

"What promotion?" Anais said, "You seemed to forget that you were in a disciplinary duel. And for a fitting punishment you will be denied of your promotion. Maybe that will teach you to sneak out after curfew."

As Anais walked away, Jason became disappointed, yet relieved from that reply. Now that he thought of it, even if he were in Ra Yellow, there still are many more Slifers for them to pick on. Now that Jaden isn't here anymore to look out for the little guy, then who will?

So, you're still here?" Jason gasped as Jaden came up to the top deck.

"Jaden... Uh, what are you doing here?" Jason asked.

"I wanted to say congrats on passing your field test. Oh, and, uh, also, in case you'd forgotten, I live here!" Jason became completely speechless, "Sure, Ra Yellow's nice with their clean sheets, lack a' cockroaches, and those spiffy blazers, but without any of my friends... It's not actually home, is it?" Jaden went to his dorm before stopping. "Hey, are you still going to Ra Yellow?"

Jason thought about what Anais told him, "I...decided I rather stay here, too."

Jaden gave a bright smile, "Well I think you made a good choice."

"Yeah... I think I'll turn is for today..." Jason went towards his room.

"Um, okay then. See ya' tomorrow," Jaden said as he and Jason opened their doors. As soon as Jason closed it shut behind him, he slipped into the bottom bunk. As he fell asleep he could hear his next-door neighbors cheering and sobbing.

* * *

**DUEL-MON DATABASE**

**(1) Lord of D.  
**

**Stats: [Spellcaster/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1200/DEF: 1100)**

**Attribute: DARK**

**Effect:**

**(2) Tyrant Dragon  
**

**Stats: [Dragon/Effect] LV: 7 (ATK: 2900/DEF: 2800)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

**Effect:**

**(3) Prime Material Dragon  
**

**Stats: [Dragon/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2400/DEF: 2000)**

**Attribute: LIGHT  
**

**********Effect: **

**(4) V-Tiger Jet  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1600/DEF: 1800)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(5) W-Wing Catapult  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(6) VW-Tiger Catapult  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Fusion/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2000/DEF: 2100)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(7) X-Head Cannon  
**

**Stats: [Machine] LV: 4 (ATK: 1800/DEF: 1500)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**(8) Y-Dragon Head  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1600)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(9) Z-Metal Tank  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1300)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(10) XYZ-Dragon Cannon  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Fusion/Effect] LV: 7 (ATK: 2800/DEF: 2600)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(11) VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Fusion/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 2800/DEF: 2600)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:**

**(12) Red Gadget  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**Effect:**

**(13) Yellow Gadget  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1200/DEF: 1200)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**Effect:**

**(14) Green Gadget  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1400/DEF: 600)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**Effect:**

**(15) Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2300/DEF: 1300)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**Effect:**

**(16) ****Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon**  


**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 3000/DEF: 2000)**

**Attribute: EARTH**

**Effect:**

**(17) Elemental Hero Ocean  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1200)**

**Attribute: WATER  
**

**************Effect: **

**(18) Elemental Hero Stratos  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1800/DEF: 300)**

**Attribute: WIND  
**

**************Effect: **

**(19) Elemental Hero Nova Master  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Fusion/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 2600/DEF: 2100)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

**************************Effect: **

**(20) Elemental Hero Great Tornado  
**

**Stats: [Warrior/Fusion/Effect] LV: 8 (ATK: 2800/DEF: 2o00)**

**Attribute: WIND  
**

**************************Effect: **

**(21) Winged Kuribou LV10  
**

**Stats: [Fairy/Effect] LV: 10 (ATK: 300/DEF: 200)**

**Attribute: LIGHT  
**

**************************************Effect: **


	5. Red vs Blue 2

**Yugioh GX: Konami/Kazuki Takahashi**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise or any of its characters except for Jason; the character Rock is owned by Gammatron, as well as all cards marked with (GT).**

* * *

It was a long Thursday for everyone at Duel Academy. Classes came and went slowly as always. But unfortunately for Jason, this one was the worst.

"Jason Hutchins!" Crowler shrieked, catching Jason's attention, "You're awfully quiet today. Perhaps you'd like to explain to the class just what I told them about Monster Trigger Effects."

Jason knew exactly why Crowler called him out. Luckily he's been studying up the night before. So he stood up, although nervous, "A trigger is, uh... It... It's an effect that lets you activate its power during your main-phase..."

"Very good... IF I WERE EVEN LECTURING ABOUT IGNITION EFFECTS!" Crowler cackled, "That just proves you hopeless at paying attention! Oh, Chazz, why don't you explain the the methods of today's real lesson!" he then asked in a sickly sweet tone.

"Don't mind if I do!" Chazz sneered as he stood, "To clarify to our focus-challenged classmate over there, a Trigger Effect activates when a certain action's met; like when a monster's destroyed, a trap's activated, stuff like that."

"That's very good! Would you care to give me an example?"

"I was just getting to that," Chazz then pointed down towards Jason, "See, just last week we caught this Slifer sneaking into Obelisk territory towards the girls dorm that night," most of the girls in the room gasped and whispered when Chazz said that, "I thought I'd teach him a lesson, so I stopped him at the lake and challenged him to a duel!"

Jason silently cursed; that wasn't what happened! He's lying!

"Did you now! I knew he'd be up to no good!" Crowler replied giddily, "Do tell me about it!"

"Well, I'll just keep it short and simple: near the end I had my powerful Ultimate Obedient Field out while Jason had Peten the Dark Clown on his field! He used Fissure to try and sink my field, but then I countered with my face-down Raigeki Break to destroy his Peten first! Normally, when Peten's sent to the graveyard, another can be summoned from the deck. But that can only happen the moment Peten goes to the graveyard! Since a chain reaction occurred between my Raigeki Break and Jason's fissure at that time, Jason screwed up on a rare opportunity to play Peten's effect!"

"That would be called 'Missing the Timing'!" Crowler lectured.

"So he set himself up for a crushing defeat! Once I revived my ultimate field, I gave him an Axe of Fool to negate his own effect; then used it to crush Jason's life-points!" Chazz folded his arms as he took in the worship made by his so-called 'heroism'.

"Very good show, Chazz! As expected from one of my best students," Crowler clapped, then turned to Jason, "See? This is how to learn. If you had spent the night studying instead of trying yo ogle girls in their bathhouse..."

Raizou stood up, "When we turned him over to Ms. Fontaine, he tried to make up some story to get out of trouble!"

Torimaki the followed, "He tried to pin the blame on us by telling her we gave him an anonymous note to lure him out into the lake! We're surprised she actually believed it!"

"Is that right!" Crowler raised an eyebrow, "Well, I'm sure Chazz managed to teach Jason a lesson, at least. This Slifer's proof that all like him are as who they are: Deadbeat!"

Jason sunk into his seat, wanting to disappear as most of the Obelisks laughed at him.

* * *

After a long, tiresome day of class, he was ready to return to his dorm room when he heard his PDA beeping during his trip halfway.

'Let's have a duel. Meet me at the front of the Ra dorm. Bastion.'

That's weird, Jason wondered. He heard Bastion to be the smartest student in the school. So why would he be wasting his time with someone from the Slifer Red dorm like him? It could be the same stunt those Obelisks pulled the night he was lead to the lake. On the other hand, it would be rude to ignore someone's invitation. So he decided to go along with it.

After retrieving his duel-disk from his room, he followed his mailer's route that leads him to the Ra dorm. Once there, he found Bastion sitting on the staircase near the entrance. "Bastion?"

As soon as his name was heard, Bastion stood up and approached him, "So you're the one who defeated Crowler the other day. I was meaning to find you. ...You do remember me, don't you?"

Jason wasn't really one to remember a face, but he recognized his accent, "You were sitting at the entrance exams that day."

"Yes, well, we were never properly introduced, so allow me," the Ra greeted, "My name is Bastion Misawa. A pleasure to meet you."

Jason took Bastion's hand and shook it, "My name's Jason. Hey."

"I supposed you know why you're here, but, would you do me the honor of dueling against my deck?"

"You did say you wanted to have one..." Jason said, looking down at his duel-disk, "It's not like I have anything else to do today."

"Then let's get started," Soon both the red and yellow student were facing each other from either side of the building, "Now, I have six different decks, one for each attribute. If you want, you can choose which deck I'll use."

"Uh..." It's hard for Jason to decide.

"Want me to decide for you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Fire deck it is," Bastion pulled has deck from his jacket and placed it into his duel-disk. "Anytime you're ready."

Jason did the same thing and activated his duel-disk with Bastion.

**Bastion: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

Since I'm the one who issued this challenge, I'll allow you to go first." Bastion offered.

"Thank you..." Jason then drew his sixth card, "I set one monster in DEF mode and end my turn." a reversed monster card appeared in front of him.

"Well then, it's my turn," Bastion drew his sixth card, "And I summon (1) UFO Turtle(4/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200)!" a large, green turtle appeared, whose shell was an actual metallic, discus spacecraft (ATK: 1400), "Now attack his face-down monster!" the turtle retracted back into its shell and spun itself towards Jason's face-down, which revealed itself as Elemental Hero Woodsman. The turtle bounced off of Woodsman's wooden arm and retreated back to its home field.

**Bastion: 3400**

**Jason: 4000**

"Woodsman. I expected as much. Very well, I'll end my turn with a face-down." a reverse-card appeared on Bastion's field.

"It's my turn," Jason drew his next card, "I activate the magic card Polymerization! By fusing Knospe and Heat from my hand, I can fusion-summon Elemental Hero Nova Master from my fusion deck!" the flower-bud hero and the fiery hero merged to form the blazing red-armored hero (ATK: 2600), "Next, I summon Elemental Hero Lady Heat in ATK mode!" the fiery heroine appeared (ATK: 1300), "Nova Master attacks UFO Turtle!"

"I activate my face-down card, Backfire!" Bastion opened his continuous-trap card the moment UFO Turtle was destroyed with a fiery punch, "And while face-up on my field, every time one of my fire-attribute monsters are destroyed, toy take 500 points of damage!" the card itself blasted a ball of fire that slammed into Jason.

**Bastion: 2200**

**Jason: 3500**

"And what's more, when my turtle is destroyed in battle, I can summon another fire-attribute monster with 1500-or-less ATK from my deck in ATK position. So I'll summon another UFO Turtle!" a copy of the turtle appeared (ATK: 1400).

"I activate the quick-play magic card De-Fusion to separate my Nova Master back into Knospe and Heat!" the flower-bud (ATK: 600) and fiery hero appeared (ATK: 1600), "And with 4 heroes on the field, Heat gains 800 ATK points (ATK: 2400)! Now Heat will attack UFO Turtle!" Heat destroyed the second turtle.

"When UFO Turtle is destroyed, I summon yet another fire-attribute monster from my deck, while you take another 500 points of damage from Backfire's effect!" yet another UFO Turtle appeared and Backfire launched another fireball.

**Bastion: 2200**

**Jason: 3000**

"When Nova Master destroys a monster in battle, I can draw one new card!" Jason drew another card, "And when there's another hero on my field, Knospe can attack you directly!" Knospe fired a round of bullet seeds at Bastion.

**Bastion: 1600**

**Jason: 3000**

"And when he inflicts damage, 100 points are transferred from his DEF points to his ATK points (ATK: 700/DEF: 900). Also, while he's with another hero, he can't be attacked. Now, after ending my turn with a face-down, I can activate Lady Heat's ability, which lets her inflict 200 points of damage to you for each hero on my field! And since there's 4 already on the field, Lady Heat can inflict 800 points of damage!" Lady Heat tossed four small fireballs at Bastion.

**Bastion: 800**

**Jason: 3000**

"It's my turn!" Bastion drew his next card, "I activate the spell card Pot of Greed to draw two more cards from my deck," he drew twice more, "I summon (*) The Thing in the Crater(4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1200) id DEF mode!" a hole collapsed into the ground with a set of eyes peering through it (DEF: 1200), "Also from my hand comes one of this deck's most powerful monsters: (3) Goka, the Pyre of Malice(6/ATK: 2200/DEF: 1900)!" from the monster card dropped a large iron canister, from inside flared a living flame (ATK: 2200), "I can special-summon this monster while I have another fire-attribute monster on my field. After that, I have to destroy one of those monsters, like The Thing in the Crater!" the hole then erupted with fire, while Backfire attacked.

**Bastion: 800**

**Jason: 2500**

"And when that monster's destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can special-summon another pyro-type monster from my hand: the (2) Solar Flare Dragon(4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1000)!" from out of the hole came a serpentine dragon made almost completely of fire (ATK: 1500), "And since I summoned a monster with 1500-or-less ATK points this turn, I can activate the quick-play spell card, Inferno Reckless Summon! This allows each of us to summon up to two more copies of the same monster we have, so I'm summoning two more Solar Flare Dragons!" two more fire dragons appeared (ATK: 1500x2).

"And I summon another Lady Heat from my hand in DEF mode!" Jason summoned another Lady Heat (DEF: 1000).

"I activate Goka's second effect, which lets me sacrifice another fire-attribute monster on my field to grant Goka 500 ATK points for this turn! So I choose my UFO Turtle!" the turtle was pulled into the flaming canister (ATK: 2700), "On to the battle-phase! Goka attacks Elemental Hero Woodsman!" Goka's flame shot out from the canister and headed straight towards Woodsman.

"I activate the trap card, Shift!" Jason's reverse-card opened, "This card redirects a target to another one of my monsters! And I choose Elemental Hero Heat (ATK: 2600)!" Heat stood in the way of the attack and absorbed Goka's flames into his body. The canister then cracked and shattered.

**Bastion: 800**

**Jason: 2400**

"When a fire-attribute monster is destroyed, you take damage thanks to Backfire's effect!" Backfire shot another blast at Jason.

**Bastion: 800**

**Jason: 1900**

"And not my Solar Flare Dragons will attack your two Elemental Heroes Lady Heats!" two of Bastion's dragons fired a stream of flame that destroyed the two heroines.

**Bastion: 800**

**Jason: 1700**

"I now end my turn, which activates Solar Flare Dragon's ability, which each inflicts 500 points of direct-damage to your life-points!" each dragon fired a blast at Jason.

**Bastion: 800**

**Jason: 200**

"This it," Bastion said, "This next round will decide who wins the duel. And in case you're wondering, my Solar Flare Dragons protect all other pyro-type monsters from being attacked; and they're all pyro-type."

Jason knew that he will lose the rest of his life-points of he doesn't take Bastion's instead. But how can he attack with those dragons protecting each other? Even Knospe doesn't have enough points to do the job. "Wait a minute. My Woodsman!" he muttered, drawing his next card, "With Woodsman's effect, I can return the Polymerization card from my graveyard!" Jason add the card to his hand, "Now I activate Polymerization! By fusing Elemental Heroes Knospe and Woodsman, I create the Elemental Hero Gaia!" the flower-bud hero and the wooden hero fused to form the heavy-armored earth hero (ATK: 2200). "Next I activate Gaia's effect! By cutting a monster's ATK points in half, I can add that same amount to Gaia's ATK points!" Gaia slammed its fist into the ground, which erupted into dozens of stone spikes that struck Goka, piercing its shell, "Best of all...Goka's a Zombie-Type Monster, meaning I can attack him!"

Goka, the Pyre of Malice: (ATK: 1100)

Elemental Hero Gaia: (ATK: 3300)

"And with that, Elemental Hero Gaia attacks Goka!" Goka's flame was extinguished the moment Gaia smashed its giant gauntlets into the canister, smashing it to pieces.

**Bastion: 0 - LOSE**

**Jason: 200 - WIN**

As the holograms disappeared, Bastion stood aghast, staring into space muttering to no one, "This opponent's good! ...Or maybe I chose the wrong deck. Or my drawing skills were unlucky. There couldn't possibly be something wrong with my technique..."

"So, uh... Good game!"

"Oh!" Bastion gasped, forgetting he had company, "Was I talking to myself? Sorry. Let's duel again some time," he turned and left, "I promise I won't lose!"

"Okay, I guess. I'll see you tomorrow..." with no other reason to be here, Jason went on his way back to his room.

He was ready to retire as soon as he opened the door, when his PDA once again beeped. He opened the mail to receive a video message. His heart nearly sank when he saw the video's sender...

_"Hey, Slifer. If you don't want everyone thinking you're a deadbeat, then come to the Obelisk Arena. I'll give you another chance to make a fool of yourself."_

Chazz's video went dark as soon as the message ended. He just doesn't stop, does he? First he lied about their duel and embarrassed him in class, and now he's calling him out to duel just to make things worst! There's no doubt there will be an audience waiting there. Jason decided he had enough. If he wants to give a show, then Jason will give one.

* * *

So he went back to the main building to the main dueling arena, and as he expected, the stands were littered with Obelisk Blue students. He stepped up to the arena to face Chazz on the other side, "And here I though you weren't gonna show! Hope you don't mind the extra company. They're just here for the show."

"What do you want?" Jason demanded.

"What I want is you to stop spreading those ridiculous rumors about you beating me in that duel, that's what!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jason argued, "I never told anyone anything! Especially when you and I both know what really happened that night!"

"Yeah; me trouncing you for being a Slifer peeping-tom!" Chazz then activated his duel-disk, "And I'm here to put you in your place here and now! So get out your deck and let's duel!"

Jason was getting tired of Chazz's lying and teasing. But this is a much better way to shut him up, "Then let's get started..." he prepped his deck and activated his duel-disk.

"Yeah, let's get started; so that everyone can see you lose, again!"

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jason: 4000**

"Superiority goes first, slacker! I draw!" Chazz drew his sixth card, "First up, I summon V-Tiger Jet in ATK mode!" the green-winged, yellow tiger machine appeared (ATK: 1600), "Next, I place one card face-down!" a reverse-card appeared. "You're up!"

"It's my turn!" Jason drew his next card, "I summon Elemental Heat in ATK mode!" the fiery hero appeared, "And once he's on the field, he gains 200 more ATK points (ATK: 1800)! Attack his V-Tiger Jet!" Heat charged in with a flaming fist.

"I always knew you're an amateur! You've just set off my trap! Go, Security Orb!" after Chazz's trap opened, a small, two-armed orb appeared and shone a beam of light from its yellow lens onto Heat, who suddenly appeared weakened and dropped to his knees (DEF: 1200), "When a monster attacks one of mine, my Security Orb can force it into DEF mode!"

"Then I'll place 1 card face-down and end my turn!" a reverse-card appeared, 'Well, at least I uncovered his trap. Now I can prepare for it.'

"One face-down isn't gonna save you!" Chazz drew his next card, "I summon W-Wing Catapult!" the blue areal platform appeared (ATK: 1300), "And the best part, is that W-Wing Catapult's a union-monster!"

"Union-what?"

"You really should pay attention in class, Slifer! A union-monster can equip itself as an equip-card onto certain other monsters to make it stronger! So by combining my W-Wing Catapult, V-Tiget Jet gains 400 ATK and DEF points!" the two machines combined into the same formation as they were in the practical exams (ATK: 2000/DEF: 2200), "And now I use their combined power to blow away that Elemental Hero Heat!" Heat was then destroyed by a barrage of rockets and missiles, "I suppose you're wondering why I combined two monsters into one, when it makes more sense to take out your monster with one and take a chunk out of your life-points with the other! Well, I'll just activate the quick-play Combination Attack and see if that brings up any ideas!" the two machines separated into their original single units, "Yeah, my Tiger Jet loses its 400-point boost, but now it's allowed to attack a second time! And its next target, is your life-points!" V-Tiger Jet flew towards Jason with its steel claws retracted. Jason shielded himself with his duel-disk from the metallic tiger's swipe.

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jason: 2400**

"But the fun's not over yet! Since I separated my W-Wing Catapult, he's treated as a new monster! So guess who get an extra 1300 points of damage!" Jason was then slammed with a barrage of bottle-rockets.

**Chazz: 4000**

**Jason: 1100**

"I knew it! That face-down card was just a big, fat bluff!" Chazz laughed, "Now then, I'll end my turn with a face-down!"

"My turn..." Jason drew his next card, "I set 1 monster in DEF mode," a set monster appeared, "That's it."

"That's it is right!" Chazz drew his next card, "Because this duel's about to end quick, hard and fast! And I'll start by summoning X-Head Cannon!" the twin-cannoned robot hovered to the field (ATK: 1800), "And with the power of Frontline Base, I summon Y-Dragon Head!" the metallic dragon was added (ATK: 1500). "And guess what! Y-Dragon Head's a union-monster as well! So by combining it with X-Head Cannon, this monster gives it 400 ATK and DEF points!" a compartment opened on the dragon's back for X-Head to attach by it's ball. X-Head Cannon now hovered by the flapping wings of Y-Dragon Head (ATK: 2200), "Not even your Woodsman can stand up to this kind of firepower! Attack!" the united machine attacked with the combined efforts of X-Head's twin cannons and Y-Dragon maw firing lightning. The attack headed straight for Jason's monster, which was revealed to by Elemental Hero Woodsman. The warrior the disappeared in a fiery explosion, "Hmph. Just as I thought. Just another weak monster. Now for... What?!" the smoke cleared to reveal Woodsman intact, "That monster has 2000 DEF points! It should've been destroyed!"

"Now this time! I activated the trap card Castle Walls!" Jason revealed his reverse-card, "Bow Woodsman is 500 DEF points stronger! And since they're higher than your monster's ATK points, you take the difference in damage!"

**Chazz: 3700**

**Jason: 1100**

"It's just a scratch! It won't make much difference! I switch my Tiger Jet to DEF mode and reequip it with W-Wing Catapult!" the two monster's recombined (DEF: 2200), "That's it for now!"

"It's my turn!" Jason drew his next card, "And thanks to Woodsman's special-ability, I can add a Polymerization card straight from my deck!" after adding the card to his hand, he settled down and shuffled his deck.

Chazz laugh, "I guess now we know why you shuffle like you duel!" the crowd joined in on the teasing.

Jason ignored them and put the deck back into his disk, "Now I use Polymerization to fuse Ocean with Knospe to summon Elemental Hero Absolute Zero!" the flower-bud hero and merman hero merged into the frigid armored hero (ATK: 2500), "Next, I summon Elemental Hero Stratos in ATK mode!" the hovering wind hero appeared (ATK: 1800), "And when he's summoned to the field, I can destroy a number of magic/trap cards up to the total number of heroes on my field other than Stratos! And since union-monsters are used as equip-cards, they still count as being magic cards! So they're not safe from this attack!" Stratos unleashed a twin barrage of wind from his winged jetpack.

"I activate my trap card, Formation Union!" as Chazz's reverse-card opened, X and Y separated right before the twister missed them both. Meanwhile, the second tornado ripped through the catapult, leaving the tiger jet hovering in mid-air. "With this card, I can separate a unionized monster into their original components!"

X-Head Cannon: (ATK: 1800)

Y-Dragon Head: (ATK: 1500)

V-Tiger Jet: (DEF: 1800)

"Stratos attacks Y-Dragon Head!" Stratos launched another twin barrage and destroyed the mechanical dragon.

**Chazz: 3400**

**Jason: 1100**

"Up next is X-Head Cannon! Attack!" Absolute Zero encased the robot into a large glacier and shattered it with one punch.

**Chazz: 2700**

**Jason: 1100**

"That's it for my turn."

"This isn't over yet, Slifer!" Chazz growled as he drew his next card, "I activate the spell Card of Demise! This lets me draw five card from my deck, then discard my entire hand in five turns! But this duel won't last that long!" he drew five more cards, "I set one monster in DEF mode! Then I end my turn with two face-downs!"

"It's my turn!" Jason drew his next card, "With Woodsman's effect, I add Polymerization from my graveyard! Now I use Polymerization to fuse Absolute Zero with Lady Heat from my hand! Now I summon Elemental Hero Nova Master!" the two heroes merged into the fiery armored hero (ATK: 2600), "And when Absolute Zero leaves the field, all of your monsters are destroyed!" V-Tiger Jet and the set monster froze and shattered, "And with no more monsters to defend with, Stratos and Nova Master are free to attack your directly!" Jason's two heroes charged in for an attack.

"Now with Negate Attack they won't!" Chazz's trap card opened, and Jason's monster's were knocked back by a barrier, "Not only are you monsters' attack negated, but the battle-phase automatically ends! Care to try again?"

Jason silently groaned, "I end my turn."

"Just as I thought!" Chazz drew his next card, "I activate the spell card, Soul Release! This lets me pick out five card from the graveyard and remove then from play!" five cards spat from his duel-disk and Chazz showed Jason his cards, "And I'll use it to remove all the monsters you destroyed during the duel!" Jason then became confused; why would Chazz banish his own monsters when he could keep him from reusing his own...? "But don't think they're out of the game! I play the card that'll finish this duel! I activate the trap card, Return from the Different Dimension!" Chazz's reverse-card opened, "And my paying half my life-points, I can summon as many monster I removed from play!" all five of Chazz's machines returned, "Now I merge my five monsters to summon my ultimate machine! first I merge V and W into the VW-Tiger Catapult!" the tiger jet landed ontop of the platform (ATK: 2100), "Next I'll fuse X, Y and Z into the XYZ-Dragon cannon!" the three machines stacked together onto of each other (ATK: 2800), "Now I activate my Dragon Cannon's ability: by sending two card from my hand to the graveyard, I'll blow away you Stratos and Woodsman!" the dragon cannon fired away and destroyed Jason's weaker monsters, "Now I merge my two monsters into one powerful machine! I create the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!" the two machines fell apart before recombining into one giant robot (ATK: 3000).

"That's what Chazz used back at the exams..." Jason muttered.

"I'm glad you remembered him, Slifer!" Chazz said, "That means you knows his special-ability as well! Now he can remove from play the only monster you have on the field!"

Nova Master then vanished, "My Hero!"

"Now you're the one without any defense! But this time you don't have anything to save you against _this!_" the Dragon Catapult Cannon lowered its twin cannons and fired away. The beams ripped through the field and through Jason, making him fall to his knees as his life-points dropped to nothingness.

"NO! I lost..."

**Chazz: 2700 - WIN**

**Jason: 0 - LOSE**

The audience roared for their fellow Obelisk's victory. Chazz pranced around the field, pumping his fist for them, "Who's the winner?! Me! Who's the best?! Me! You see, Slifer! Deadbeats life you belong on their knees!" Jason felt so humiliated. He walked into Chazz's trap and he fell for it. Now he's become a laughingstock among a third of the student population! "That's what happens when some Slifer Deadbeat thinks he can go against an Obelisk Blue! Now who's up! Who wants to step it to the king?!"

"I do!"

Everyone, including Jason, look towards the entrance, another Slifer Red marched onto the platform. He had black hair like Jason's and jade eyes. Under his opened Slifer jacket, he wore a blue shirt with data line patterns on it and white shorts with sky-blue pockets. What was another interesting thing to note was that he was carrying a broom with a tag on it. Jason barely read the words 'If found, please return to' on the note, the name hidden by the boy's hand.

"This party's 'invite only'." Chazz said, "I don't remember letting another Slifer on the guest list!"

"You've been talking alot of talk, Chazz!" the Slifer said as he handed Jason his broom while pulling out a standard Duel Academy Duel Disk, "You wanna prove you're the man? Then how about you try your hand against me!" he snapped on his duel-disk and turned it on, the auto-shuffle activating.

"Well, why not!" Chazz agreed, "I guess we'll have another demonstration on the superiority of Obelisks."

"Hey, you there," the Slifer called out, and Jason looked up at the smile the Slifer was aiming towards him, "Why don't you take five? I'll take it from here."

"O-okay..." Not wanting to ask any questions, Jason jumped off the arena and let the Slifer take his place.

"Sure. Step up to the plate," Chazz said, "I'd be happy to knock down another Slifer."

The Slifer smiled, "Rock doesn't get knocked so easy."

"We'll see about that. DUEL!"

**Chazz: 4000**

**Rock: 4000**

"Superiority rules here! So I'll go first!" Chazz drew his sixth card, "I summon X-Head Cannon in ATK mode!" the twin-barreled robot appeared (ATK: 1800), "Next, I activate the continuous-spell Front-line Base; and use its effect to summon Z-Metal Tank!" the yellow crab-like tank appeared, (ATK: 1500), "In case you're new to this, Z-Metal's a union-monster that can combine with other monsters to make them stronger. So by equipping Z-Metal Tank, X-Head Cannon gains 600 ATK and DEF points!" a space opened on the tank's back and X-Head attached itself ontop of it (ATK: 2400/DEF: 2100), "I then place one card face-down and end my turn. Let's see you get past this!"

"With pleasure!" the Slifer Rock drew his next card, "So...you like the color blue? Well, you'll like this buddy of mine: (GT)(4) Mega Man(3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000)! The Blue Bomber!" a child-like robot boy in blue tights appeared via teleporting, wearing darker blue gauntlets, boots and helmet (ATK: 1000)

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Chazz smirked, "That monster doesn't even hold a candle to my X-Head Cannon!"

"Then I'll equip him with the (GT) Wood Man-Leaf Shield card!" Rock responded as Mega Man's suit became white while his armor became green, "Now I place 1 card face-down and end my turn! Have fun with your turn now, Blue Boy!"

"You just made the same mistake that other Slifer did!" Chazz drew his next card, "No face-down card's gonna help you win the duel! Especially when my X-Head Cannon can morph into a fusion-monster!" the merged monster began to surge violet lightning, "You see, I can remove certain machines on my field from play to form stronger fusion-monsters! And the best part, I don't need any Polymerization card to do it! Now I activate his newly-acquired special-ability! By sending one card from my hand to the graveyard, I can destroy one spell/trap card that's face-down on the field!" Z's eye lit up and tore a laser through Rock's reverse-card, "Now with no sneaky trap to hide behind, my (8) XZ-Tank Cannon(6/ATK: 2400/ATK: 2100) can attack your monster with Twin Barrel Blast!" Chazz's machine fired away with it's mounted cannons from X and retracted cannons from Z's shells.

"I activate Mega-Man's special-ability! Go, Leaf Shield!" a set of four metal leaves formed together into a large, glowing leaf-shaped shield and held back the blast, "Sorry, Blue boy, but as long as Mega Man's equipped with Wood Man's Leaf Shield, I can stop one of your attacks once per turn! Also, tell your hunk of junk to be more careful or he'll get a leaf cut!"

"You just got lucky! Some weak monster isn't gonna win this for you! I end my turn!"

"Yeah, we'll see," Rock snorted as he drew his next card, "Maybe Mega Man could use a little help...So why not give it to him! Meet robot's-best-friend, (GT)(5) Rush(2/ATK: 200/DEF: 1000)!" a red metallic dog appeared (ATK: 200), barking happily at seeing Mega Man before growling at Chazz and his XZ-Tank Cannon, "And you know what? I'll take a page from your book and merge him with Mega Man into a fusion monster, without needing a Polymerization card!" Rush dematerialized into a mass of red light and coiled around Mega Man, where he reformed into a suit of red armor with a jetpack on the back, "I give you the strongest form my buddy here has: (6) Mega Man Booster(5/ATK: 2200/DEF: 2000)!"

"I hate to be the bearer of obvious news, but that monster's still not strong enough," Chazz sneered as Mega Man puffed his cheeks out in annoyance.

"It will be once I give him his normal weapon: the (GT) Mega Buster!" Mega Man's left hand retracted into a cannon, "And with this equip-spell in play, my buddy here gains an extra 800 ATK points (ATK: 3000). Now turn that tank into scrap with a Charge Shot!" Mega Man aimed his cannon and shot XZ with a barrage of small blast until the enemy machine exploded.

**Chazz: 3400**

**Rock: 4000**

"And to end my turn; I place 1 card face-down! Have fun, Blue Boy!" Rock finished before fiving Mega Man Booster, "And you, my buddy and his precious pup, are as awesome as ever."

"That was a lucky shot!" Chazz growled before he drew his next card, looked at it, and grinned, "And speaking of luck, I just drew a Magical Mallet card! So now I can shuffle it with as many card as I can from my hand and draw the same number of cards!" Chazz shuffled his entire hand and drew three cards, "Next I play the spell card Light of Redemption! By paying 800 life-points, I can add a light-attribute monster that's removed from play!" he added another card to his hand, "Now I summon that same monster, X-Head Cannon! And with Front-line Base's power, I also summon Y-Dragon Head!" the twin-cannon robot (ATK: 1800) and the metallic red dragon (ATK: 1500) appeared, "Now I remove both monsters from play, fusing them together to create the (9) XY-Dragon Cannon(6/ATK: 2200/DEF: 1900)!" the robot once again landed on top of the dragon (ATK: 2200), "Now I activate his special-ability! By discarding one card from my hand I can destroy one face-up spell/trap card on your side of field! That means Mega-Man's Mega Buster goes bye-bye!" the dragon spat out a surge of electricity and shorted out the cannon (ATK: 2200), "But since I don't want to waste my monster in a draw, I'm not gonna attack this turn. And with you're monster having the same ATK points neither can you."

**Chazz: 2600**

**Rock: 4000**

"Wanna bet?" Rock drew his next card, "Mega Man Booster, attack XY-Dragon Cannon!" Mega Man charged after the dragon cannon with the opposing monster vice-versa. The two monster met in the center of the field and the clash destroyed them both, "But don't think Mega Man's gone for good. Because when Booster's destroyed, Mega Man and Rush come back to the field!" Mega Man (ATK: 1000) and his canine partner (ATK: 200) returned, "Now I activate my face-down trap-card, Formation Union!" Rock's reverse-card opened, "And I think you know what happens next; since Rush is a union-monster, I can equip him to Mega Man and give him 1000 ATK and DEF points!" Rush jumped up and went through another change, this time transforming into a hover-board which the Blue Bomber hopped up on (ATK: 2000/DEF: 2000), "And since you have no monsters on your field, I guess they're free to attack you directly!" Mega Man and Rush shot towards Chazz and knocked right into him.

**Chazz: 600**

**Rock: 4000**

"Finally I place 1 card face-down and end my turn!" a reverse-card appeared.

"Finally, it's my turn!" Chazz drew his next card, "I use Pot of Greed to draw two cards!" he drew his cards, "And what luck: I drew two Dian Keito the Cure Master cards, increasing my Life Points by 2000!"

"Bah. You and the healing waters. Soda's the way to go for healing!" Rock snorted as a 'pleasantly plump' figure in light-blue robes appeared before Chazz, glowing as it restored his Life Points.

**Chazz: 2600**

**Rock: 4000**

"And, moving on, I activate the spell card Soul Release and remove the monsters in my graveyard from play!" he took four cards from his duel-disk, "And by paying half my life-points, I activate the trap card Return from the Different Dimension to summon V-Tiger Jet, W-Wing Catapult, X-Head Cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank that I removed from play!" when Chazz's reverse-card opened, all five of Chazz's single-unit machines appeared one after another, "Now I combine them all to form my most powerful monster, the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon!" the five monsters merged into two larger machines, which then formed one massive robot (ATK: 3000), "Now for his special-ability, which lets me remove any card on your field from play! And I choose your face-down card!" Rock's reverse-card vanished, "Now it's my turn to turn your monster to scrap! Attack!" the robot's cannon's fired down on Mega Man, whose hoverboard dog vanished in the blast leaving the Blue Bomber falling onto the floor. "Your monster may be protected by that union monster, but you still take damage!"

"Ouch...!" Rock flinched as he saw Mega Man end up face-first on the floor, "You okay?" he grinned once he got a thumbs up from Mega Man, the Monster's face still flat on the floor, "Attaboy!"

**Chazz: 1300**

**Rock: 3000**

"See? It's like I said, no matter how much you power up, a weak monster's a weak monster!" Chazz goaded, "Just like a Slifer Slacker's just that: a slacker! I beat that lesson into your little friend and now it's your turn! And on that topic, I'll give you a few moments with your monster before I send him away, too!"

"You'll be eating those words, Blue Boy!" Rock drew his next card, "I activate the spell Pot of Greed to draw 2 more cards!" he the drew two cards, "Next, let me introduce you to another friend of Mega Man; his sister be be exact! I summon (GT)(6) Roll Light(1/ATK: 500/DEF: 500)!" a little girl appeared around Mega Man's age, wearing a red dress and a green ribbon holding up her yellow hair (ATK: 500).

"You've got to be kidding me!" Chazz laughed, "You're gonna send a little girl to fight your battles?"

"And I'll also equip her with her (GT) Roll's Broom equip-spell!" a small wooden broom appeared in Roll's hand, "Alright, Roll, attack that Catapult Cannon!" Roll held the broom firmly in her hands and rushed towards the Dragon Catapult Cannon, only to stop at its feet and swat at it.

Chazz and the rest of the audience laughed at the girl's futile attempt, "I think you missed a spot there!" suddenly the broom snapped in two leaving the bottom half flying, "Are you done yet? The only good your so-called monster did was pick up dust!"

"That's not all it did!" Rock smiled. A small crack them appeared where Roll was hitting and spread across the giant robot's leg.

"What have you done to my monster!"

"When Roll fight with nothing but her broom, it does more than collect dust-bunnies; it also destroys the monster she battles! Plus, she's spared from being destroyed."

"That's not possible!" Chazz cursed as he watched his monster fall apart and collapse into a pile of scrapmetal, but not before Mega Man pulled Roll away from the debris, "My Dragon Catapult Cannon!"

**Chazz: 1300**

**Rock: 500**

"Now it's time for Mega Man to attack you directly!" Mega Man reapplied his cannon and charged it at Chazz as Roll pulled her left eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at Chazz.

"Go ahead and attack!" Chazz challenged, "I'll still have points to spare and then I'll summon something next turn to destroy your monsters and wipe out the rest of your life-points!"

"You won't get a next turn because I activate the quick-play Rush Recklessly!" Mega Man's energy began to leak from the barrel of his arm-cannon (ATK: 1700), "Now, Mega Man! Finish with Mega Burst!" The Blue Bomber then released the energy in a large, glowing sphere. Chazz only stood before he was knocked back by the colossal ball of energy.

**Chazz: 0 - LOSE**

**Rock: 500 - WIN**

"And to quote a buddy of mine I just made yesterday, that's game!" Rock smirked, "Yatta! Time to break the soda out!" Roll coughed just before she and Mega Man faded away at his Duel Disk's deactivation, "Uht! Uh...Wh-What I mean is...Aw to the scrapyard with it; I'm having a soda and you aren't stopping me!" he walked up to Chazz as he laid on his back, "And you, Blue Boy, are pathetic." he glared at all the Obelisks, "Not only him, but each and every boys-in-blue that's ever insulted the Slifer Red Dorm or Ra Yellow Dorm just because we ain't got anything fancy like you or aren't in the same dorm as you is pathetic! The 'Elite Duelists?' Ha! More like the 'elite bullies!'" he was about to look down before recalling something, "And another thing; check the facts first before listening to rumors dunces like Blue Boy here spread! Every duel's recorded and can be brought up at any time for students at the library!" he looked down at Chazz as the Obelisk Blue student growled at him, "Ooh~! Will you look at that. With a glare like that, you remind me of a ferret. Hey, that could be your new nickname: 'Ferret Face.'" he hopped off the stage and walked over to Jason before giving Chazz a two-fingered salute, "Yeah. Great beating you, Ferret Face! Let's have fun like this some other time," he turned to Jason and patted his shoulder, "You doing okay now, Daichi?"

"D-Daichi?"

"Yeah. I seen your monsters and how they relate to different elements, so 'Daichi' is what I'm gonna call you, just like I name all my friends," Rock grinned before adopting a serious look, "And I'm serious about looking up Duels in the library. I was sitting a row above you in Mrs. Crowler's class and decided to snoop a bit. Didn't show the time or anything like that, but it did have the location and how the duel went down. Aces, man, aces."

* * *

After a long day Jason finally retired to his room. After settling in he received yet another message. The day's practically over so who could be calling this time? He opened the message and found out that Anais called, and he's needed tomorrow morning for a new assignment. Jason sighed. It looks like he's going to be busy tomorrow...

"Okay! Okay! You won! Please! Just take anything you want and go!"

In a back alley somewhere that's full of fog, the hapless victim is facing a tall, masked man in a black trench coat and hat, holding a glowing golden pyramid on a cord. "What I want... is your soul!"

"No! Please! Show some mercy!"

The golden eye on the pyramid glowed, "'Some mercy'...? What is that?" The pyramid shone brightly with sparkling white light, the nameless victim moaned, and then fell silent, "Rest in peace, in the Shadow Realm," he walks over to the fallen duelist, whose cards have been scattered on the ground, then halted at the sound of his ringing cell phone, then answered it, "...Duel Academy? ...Tomorrow night? I'll be there."

* * *

**DUEL-MON DATABASE**

**(1) UFO Turtle  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200)**

**Attribute: FIRE**

**Effect: When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck, in face-up Attack Position.  
**

**(2) Solar Flare Dragon  
**

**Stats: [Pyro/Effect] LV: 4 (ATK: 1500/DEF: 1000)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

**Effect: While you control another Pyro-Type monster, this card cannot be attacked. During each of your End Phases: Inflict 500 damage to your opponent.  
**

**(3) Goka, the Pyre of Malice  
**

**Stats: [Zombie/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2200/DEF: 1900)**

**Attribute: FIRE  
**

**********Effect: If you control a FIRE monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). When you do: Target 1 FIRE monster you control; destroy that target. During each of your Standby Phases: Special Summon 1 "Fireball Token" (Pyro-Type/FIRE/Level 1/ATK 100/DEF 100) in Defense Position. You can Tribute 1 other FIRE monster; this card gains 500 ATK, until the End Phase.**

**(4) Mega Man  
**

**Stats: [Machine] LV: 4 (ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**(5) Rush  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Union] LV: 4 (ATK: 2200/DEF: 2100)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect: Once per turn, during your Main Phase, if you control this monster on the field, you can equip it to 'Mega Man' as an Equip Spell Card OR unequip the Union equipment and Special Summon this Card in face-up Attack Position. While equipped to a monster by this card's effect, increased the equipped monster's ATK and DEF by 1000. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead.)  
**

**(6) Roll Light  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Effect] LV: 1 (ATK: 500/DEF: 500)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect: ****This card cannot be targeted in battle as long as there is one other monster on your side of the Field.**

**(7) Mega Man Booster  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Fusion/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2200/DEF: 2100)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect:  
**

**(8) XZ-Tank Cannon  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Fusion/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2400/DEF: 2100)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

**Effect: "X-Head Cannon" + "Z-Metal Tank"  
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by removing from play the above cards on your side of the field. (You do not use "Polymerization"). This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. Discard 1 card from your hand to destroy 1 face-down Spell or Trap Card on your opponent's side of the field.  
**

**(9) XY-Dragon Cannon  
**

**Stats: [Machine/Fusion/Effect] LV: 6 (ATK: 2200/DEF: 1900)**

**Attribute: LIGHT**

******Effect: "X-Head Cannon" + "Y-Dragon Head"  
This card can only be Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by removing from play the above cards on your side of the field. (You do not use "Polymerization"). This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. Discard 1 card from your hand to destroy 1 face-up Spell or Trap Card on your opponent's side of the field.**

* * *

******Please Read and Review.**


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